I think the Greek New Testament is the strongest and most successful misreading of a great prior text in the entire history of influence.

Everyone wants a prodigy to fail; it makes our mediocrity more bearable.

The most beautiful prose paragraph yet written by any American.

We read, frequently if not unknowingly, in search of a mind more original than our own.

I realized early on that the academy and the literary world alike

It is hard to go on living without some hope of encountering the extraordinary.

Shakespeare is the true multicultural author. He exists in all languages. He is put on the stage everywhere. Everyone feels that they are represented by him on the stage.

At our present bad moment, we need above all to recover our sense of literary individuality and of poetic autonomy.

Read deeply, not to believe, not to accept, not to contradict, but to learn to share in that one nature that writes and reads.

Reading well is one of the greatest pleasures that solitude can afford you.

The art and passion of reading well and deeply is waning, but [Jane] Austen still inspires people to become fanatical readers.

Ask a true scientist a very profound question on his science, and he will besilent. Ask a true religious person a very simple question on his religion, and he will be frenzied.

In the future he would remember to be kinder to her clothing... provided that she didn't look so damn good in them.

Unbelief is safe, because it takes no risk and almost always gets what it expects.

Deep inside all of us a huge potential beckons, waiting to open us to the joy, genius, freedom and Love within.

If I write too much of anything for too long, I burn out on it. So it helps to vary my output from year to year.

One must exploit the asynchronies that have befallen one, link them to a promising issue or domain, reframe frustrations as opportunities, and, above all, persevere.

If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.

You fool, You have been dangling For such a long time! When will you seize the opportunity Or feel the necessity To untangle the taut knot Of your bondage-life?

You treat me like a dog and you expect me to smile? You remind me of a jackass.

Ser sincero en todo momento debe requerir valor. Yo no sabría hacerlo.