I could smell the curves of the river beyond the dusk and I saw the last light supine and tranquil upon tideflats like pieces of broken mirror, then beyond them lights began in the pale clear air, trembling a little like butterflies hovering a long way off.

In Europe, being an artist is a form of behavior. In America, it's an excuse for a form of behavior.

Dear God, let me be damned a little longer, a little while.

Who gathers the withered rose?

Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.

The poets are almost always wrong about the facts... That's because they are not really interested in facts: only in truth...

There is no such thing as bad whiskey. Some whiskeys just happen to be better than others. But a man shouldn't fool with booze until he's fifty; then he's a damn fool if he doesn't.