He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.

All of us have failed to match our dream of perfection. I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible. If I could write all my work again, I'm convinced I could do it better. This is the healthiest condition for an artist. That's why he keeps working, trying again: he believes each time that this time he will do it, bring it off. Of course he won't.

Pointless. . . . Like giving caviar to an elephant.

You should approach Joyce's Ulysses as the illiterate Baptist preacher approaches the Old Testament: with faith.

There is no such thing as was - only is. If was existed, there would be no grief or sorrow.

I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth.

If I were reincarnated, I'd want to come back a buzzard. Nothing hates him or envies him or wants him or needs him. He is never bothered or in danger, and he can eat anything.