There is a great deal of difference in believing something still, and believing it again.

The most difficult problem in personal knowledge, whether of oneself or of others, is the problem of guessing when to think as a historian and when to think as an anthropologist.

The slogan of Hell: Eat or be eaten. The slogan of Heaven: Eat and be eaten.

What we have not named as a symbol escapes our notice.

And none will hear the postman’s knock Without a quickening of the heart. For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

The masculine imagination lives in a state of perpetual revolt against the limitations of human life. In theological terms, one might say that all men, left to themselves, become gnostics. They may swagger like peacocks, but in their heart of hearts they all think sex an indignity and wish they could beget themselves on themselves. Hence the aggressive hostility toward women so manifest in most club-car stories.

Our claim to our own bodies and our world is our catastrophe.