One of the troubles of our times is that we are all, I think, precocious as personalities and backward as characters.

Our claim to our own bodies and our world is our catastrophe.

Does God judge us by appearances? I Suspect that He does.

Organic growth is a cyclical process; it is just as true to say that the oak is a potential acorn as it is to say the acorn is a potential oak. But the process of writing a poem, of making any art object, is not cyclical but a motion in one direction toward a definite end.

Oh, how I wish that Orwell were still alive, so that I could read his comments on contemporary events!

In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be unfaithful to him as often as they like, but he must never, never be unfaithful to them.

People always get what they want. But there is a price for everything. Failures are either those who do not know what they want or are not prepared to pay the price asked them. The price varies from individual to individual. Some get things at bargain-sale prices, others only at famine prices. But it is no use grumbling. Whatever price you are asked, you must pay.