There is no such thing as a bad whisky. Some whiskies just happen to be better than others.

The writer doesn't need economic freedom. All he needs is a pencil and some paper.

any live man is better than any dead man but no live or dead man is very much better than any other live or dead man

It feels almost soft, like something to be caressed. Only gold feels that way.

The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.

Our freedom must be buttressed by a homogeny equally and unchallengeably free, no matter what color they are, so that all the other inimical forces everywhere -- systems political or religious or racial or national -- will not just respect us because we practice freedom, they will fear us because we do.

The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.