It is a commonplace that Racine is untranslatable. This is not because his verse is difficult, but because it is not.

Against the ruin of the world, there is only one defense: The creative act.

Maturity is having the ability to escape categorization.

The holiness of the real Is always there, accessible In total immanence. The nodes Of transcendence coagulate In you, the experiencer, And in the other, the lover.

There have always been those who, though they see tragedy as the outcome of freedom, will nevertheless judge that tragedy is not too high a price to pay.

You don't become a saint until you lead a good life whether in Tibet or Italy or America.

The meaning of life can be revealed but never explained.

It takes great labor to uncover the convincing simple speech of the heart. Poetic candor comes with hard labor, so even does impetuosity and impudence.

Man thrives where angels would die of ecstasy and where pigs would die of disgust.

You learn nothing if you carry with you a journalistic system of values, which is invented to save reporters from experience.

Poetry has ceased to be a public art and has become, as Whitehead said of religion, "What man does with his aloneness.

If your prudence stops you every time from taking an action, then you are no more prudent, you are frightened.

If you're going to spend two or three years immersed in a subject, you better be deeply interested in it, or it won't be interesting to the reader.

If you trusted that your art was going to support your life, how would you live?

The concept of logical thinking is selection and this is brought about by the processes of acceptance and rejection. Rejection is the basis of logical thinking.

Always remember this: If you don't attend the funerals of your friends, they will certainly not attend yours.

I'm like a rock singer with one-night stands on the road.

I had been simply treating water, settling on surviving and avoiding pain rather than being actively involved in seeking out life.

For me to dominate the Congress in spite of these fundamental differences is almost a species of violence which I must refrain from.

Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.

I was reading a book... 'the history of glue' - I couldn't put it down.