Beauty is but a flower,Which wrinkles will devour;Brightness falls from the air;Queens have died young and fair;Dust hath closed Helen's read more

Beauty is but a flower,Which wrinkles will devour;Brightness falls from the air;Queens have died young and fair;Dust hath closed Helen's eye.I am sick, I must die;Lord have mercy on us. - Song in Time of Pestilence.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-distrust. He guides their eyes from himself read more

The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-distrust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciple.

Literature for me isn't a workaday job, but something which involves desires, dreams and fantasy.

Literature for me isn't a workaday job, but something which involves desires, dreams and fantasy.

The philosophy exam was a piece of cake -- which was a bit of a surprise, actually, because I was read more

The philosophy exam was a piece of cake -- which was a bit of a surprise, actually, because I was expecting some questions on a sheet of paper.

They castrate the books of other men in order that with the fat of their works they may lard their read more

They castrate the books of other men in order that with the fat of their works they may lard their own lean volumes.

Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.

Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.

You, the Spirit of the Settlement! ... Not understand that America is God's crucible, the great melting-pot where all the read more

You, the Spirit of the Settlement! ... Not understand that America is God's crucible, the great melting-pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming! Here, you stand, good folk, think I, when I see them at Ellis Island, here you stand in your fifty groups, with your fifty languages and histories, and your fifty blood hatreds and rivalries... - Melting Pot, The.

To provoke dreams of terror in the slumber of prosperity has become the moral duty of literature.

To provoke dreams of terror in the slumber of prosperity has become the moral duty of literature.