Without Art, we should have no notion of the sacred; without Science, we should always worship false gods.

Few people take an interest in Iceland, but in those few the interest is passionate.

Desire, even in its wildest tantrums, can neither persuade me it is love nor stop me from wishing it were.

But if a stranger in the train asks me my occupation, I never answer "writer" for fear that he may go on to ask me what I write, and to answer "poetry" would embarrass us both, for we both know that nobody can earn a living simply by writing poetry.

To have a sense of sin means to feel guilty at there being an ethical choice to make, a guilt which, however "good" I may become, remains unchanged.

The friends who met here and embraced are gone, Each to his own mistake.

a culture is no better than its woods