Slavery is so intolerable a condition that the slave can hardly escape deluding himself into thinking that he is choosing to obey his master's commands when, in fact, he is obliged to. Most slaves of habit suffer from this delusion and so do some writers, enslaved by an all too personal style.

Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.

I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return.

We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know.

The poet who writes "free" verse is like Robinson Crusoe on his desert island: he must do all his cooking, laundry and darning for himself. In a few exceptional cases, this manly independence produces something original and impressive, but more often the result is squalor - dirty sheets on the unmade bed and empty bottles on the unswept floor.

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.

Aside from purely technical analysis, nothing can be said about music, except when it is bad; when it is good, one can only listen and be grateful.