America has always been a country of amateurs where the professional, that is to say, the man who claims authority as a member of an élite which knows the law in some field or other, is an object of distrust and resentment.

Political history is far too criminal to be a fit subject of study for the young. Children should acquire their heroes and villians from fiction.

Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise, because of impatience we cannot return.

What is a Professor of Poetry? How can poetry be professed?

I just try to put the thing out and hope somebody will read it. Someone says: 'Whom do you write for?' I reply: 'Do you read me?' If they say 'Yes,' I say, 'Do you like it?' If they say 'No,' then I say, 'I don't write for you.'

Every high C accurately struck demolishes the theory that we are the irresponsible puppets of fate or chance.

A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime.