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.

There is a certain kind of person who is so dominated by the desire to be loved for himself alone that he has constantly to test those around him by tiresome behavior; what he says and does must be admired, not because it is intrinsically admirable, but because it is his remark, his act. Does not this explain a good deal of avant-garde art?

It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it.

There are good books which are only for adults. There are no good books which are only for children.

A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.

There's only one good test of pornography. Get twelve normal men to read the book, and then ask them, ''Did you get an erection?'' If the answer is ''Yes'' from a majority of the twelve, then the book is pornographic.

A poet's hope: to be, like some valley cheese, local, but prized elsewhere.