"Sometimes I think it is a great mistake to have matter that can think and feel. It complains so. By the same token, though, I suppose that boulders and mountains and moons could be accused of being a little too phlegmatic."
"Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?"
"I speak gibberish to the civilized world and it replies in kind."
"If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind."
"A book is an arrangement of twenty-six phonetic symbols, ten numerals, and about eight punctuation marks, and people can cast their eyes over these and envision the eruption of Mount Vesuvius or the Battle of Waterloo."
"Talent is extremely common. What is rare is the willingness to endure the life of the writer."