Literature is the question minus the answer.

Literature is the question minus the answer.

Literature was formerly an art and finance a trade; today it is the reverse.

Literature was formerly an art and finance a trade; today it is the reverse.

I am never long, even in the society of her I love, without yearning for the company of my lamp read more

I am never long, even in the society of her I love, without yearning for the company of my lamp and my library.

A novel is a mirror carried along a main road.

A novel is a mirror carried along a main road.

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.

Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child

Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child

This book fills a much-needed gap.

This book fills a much-needed gap.

Everywhere I go, I'm asked if the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them.

Everywhere I go, I'm asked if the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them.