Only the more rugged mortals should attempt to keep up with current literature.

Only the more rugged mortals should attempt to keep up with current literature.

When I give a lecture, I accept that people look at their watches, but what I do not tolerate is read more

When I give a lecture, I accept that people look at their watches, but what I do not tolerate is when they look at it and raise it to their ear to find out if it stopped.

You are educated when you have the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or self-confidence.

You are educated when you have the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or self-confidence.

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its read more

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a losttradition.

Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a losttradition.

This book fills a much-needed gap.

This book fills a much-needed gap.

Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.

Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.

If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no read more

If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no other choice. Failing this duty, he sinks into oblivion. Society, on the other hand, has no obligation toward the poet. A majority by definition, society thinks of itself as having other options than reading verses, no matter how well written. Its failure to do so results in its sinking to that level of locution at which society falls easy prey to a demagogue or a tyrant. This is society's own equivalent of oblivion.

This novel is not to be tossed lightly aside, but hurled with great force.

This novel is not to be tossed lightly aside, but hurled with great force.