After all, no one is ever taken in by the happy ending, but we are often divinely fuddled by the tragic curtain.

We are at heart so profoundly anarchistic that the only form of state we can imagine living in is Utopian; and so cynical that the only Utopia we can believe in is authoritarian.

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.

Where misunderstanding serves others as an advantage, one is helpless to make oneself understood.

Being a Jew is like walking in the wind or swimming: you are touched at all points and conscious everywhere.

The poet is in command of his fantasy, while it is exactly the mark of the neurotic that he is possessed by his fantasy.

What marks the artist is his power to shape the material of pain we all have.

It is now life and not art that requires the willing suspension of disbelief.

Unless we insist that politics is imagination and mind, we will learn that imagination and mind are politics, and of a kind we will not like.

It is possible that the contemplation of cruelty will not make us humane but cruel; that the reiteration of the badness of our spiritual condition will make us consent to it.

The immature artist imitates. The mature artist steals.

Education is the light in the darkness of ignorance.

I do not recommend writing a screenplay in two weeks.

It's amazing how kids can be brutalized into a mold in witch they it right back to the weaker one and never think of escaping from the whole filthy mess.

I discipline my mind to see past distractions, to scrutinize deceptive tendencies and to pay careful attention to details whether I am conversing with others or I’m just a passive observer.

Some people swear by writing courses, but whether it really helps American poetry, I have doubts.

Ascetic spirituality is a symptom of the very disease which it intends to cure.

Curiosity began my journey, which led to regret, which brings me always to wonder and dedication.

I see the underlying economy as being very healthy.

And there should not be a limit on the creation of new public schools. We ought to expand choices for parents.

I knew what infinity was. Being a previous art student, I knew about some art concepts.