Like many young men in the South, he had trouble ruling out the possible. They are not like an immigrant's son in Passaic who desires to become a dentist and that is that. Southerners have trouble ruling out the possible. What happens to a... man to whom all things seem possible and every course of action open? Nothing of course.

Why is it that no other species but man gets bored? Under the circumstances in which a man gets bored, a dog goes to sleep.

Ignorance, if recognized, is often more fruitful than the appearance of knowledge.

Bad books always lie. They lie most of all about the human condition.

I sometimes think novelists write about sex in order to avoid boring themselves to death.

Lord, grant that my work increase knowledge and help other men. Failing that, Lord, grant that it will not lead to man’s destruction. Failing that, Lord, grant that my article in Brain be published before the destruction takes place.

Why has the South produced so many good writers? Because we got beat.