a culture is no better than its woods

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.

A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime.

Those who will not reason, perish in the act. Those who will not act, perish for that reason.

Every poet has his dream reader: mine keeps a look out for curious prosodic fauna like bacchics and choriambs.

Whatever the field under discussion, those who engage in debate must not only believe in each other's good faith, but also in their capacity to arrive at the truth.

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.