I think the first prerequisite to civilization is an ability to make polite conversation.

Anyone who has a child today should train him to be either a physicist or a ballet dancer. Then he'll escape.

Christ did not enchant men; He demanded that they believe in Him: except on one occasion, the Transfiguration. For a brief while, Peter, James, and John were permitted to see Him in His glory. For that brief while they had no need of faith. The vision vanished, and the memory of it did not prevent them from all forsaking Him when He was arrested, or Peter from denying that he had ever known Him.

A writer is a maker, not a man of action: his private life is of no concern to anybody but himself, his family and his friends.

A poet, qua poet, has only one political duty, namely, in his own writing to set an example of the correct use of his mother tongue, which is always being corrupted. When words lose their meaning, physical force takes over.

Our sufferings and weaknesses, in so far as they are personal, are of no literary interest whatsoever. They are only interesting in so far as we can see them as typical of the human condition.

In addition to English, at least one ancient language, probably Greek or Hebrew, and two modern languages would be required.