As a recluse I couldn't bear traffic. It had nothing to do with jealousy, I simply disliked people, crowds, anywhere, except at my readings. People diminished me, they sucked me dry.

being alone never felt right. sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right.

There's no way I can stop writing, it's a form of insanity.

Her one drink had Cecelia giggling and talking and she was explaining that animals had souls too. Nobody challenged her opinion. It was possible, we knew. What we weren't sure of was if we had any.

The worst thing for a writer is to know another writer, and worse than that, to know a number of other writers. Like flies on the same turd.

People were usually much better in their letters than in reality. They were much like poets in this way.

Goodness could be found sometimes in the middle of hell.

I didn't like anything. Maybe I was afraid. That was it - I was afraid. I wanted to sit alone in a room with the shades down. I feasted upon that. I was a crank. I was a lunatic.

I began to feel like a kept man and it felt great.

You're the most unknown famous man I ever met

I don't know. It's been terribly hard for me. How do I know you won't do it again?''Nobody is ever quite sure of what they will do. You aren't sure what you might do.

History will remember you for your accomplishments, not for your ability.

Hope makes the soul glad.

That's the advantage of having lived sixty-five years. You don't feel the need to be impatient any longer.

The past itself, as historical change continues to accelerate, has become the most surreal of subjects - making it possible... to see a new beauty in what is vanishing.

By reaching out, more comes back than you can possibly imagine.

Reading is not an operation performed on something inert but a relationship entered into with another vital being.

The beauty is that it's all a part of this wonderful dream I had in college. It's beautiful to see what it's turned into. It's the journey that I'm most proud of.

The average person would have quit at the first failure. That’s why there have been many average men and only one Edison.

It is with the reading of books the same as with looking at pictures; one must, without doubt, without hesitations, with assurance, admire what is beautiful.