“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.”

You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway?

You’re terrific as far as I am concerned.

A poet dares be just so clear and no clearer… He unzips the veil from beauty, but does not remove it. A poet utterly clear is a trifle glaring.

Only a person who is congenially self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays

It is Sunday, mid-morning-Sunday in the living room, Sunday in the kitchen, Sunday in the woodshed, Sunday down the road in the village: I hear the bells, calling me to share God’s grace.

Habitually creative people are prepared to be lucky.

Salutations; it’s just my fancy way of saying hello or good morning

Nationalism has two fatal charms for its devotees: It presupposes local self-sufficiency, which is a pleasant and desirable condition, and it suggests, very subtly, a certain personal superiority by reason of one’s belonging to a place which is definable and familiar, as against a place that is strange, remote.

Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.

Most people think of peace as a state of Nothing Bad Happening, or Nothing Much Happening. Yet if peace is to overtake us and make us the gift of serenity and well-being, it will have to be the state of Something Good Happening.

Be obscure clearly! Be wild of tongue in a way we can understand.

I am still encouraged to go on. I wouldn’t know where else to go.

When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.

Semi-colons only prove that the author has been to college.

There’s no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.

Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had. And when you are reading a book, you and the author are alone together-just the two of you.

Remarrying a husband you’ve divorced is like having your appendix put back in.

Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you can’t erase it.

To hang out in a gay bar or put on a sequined halter top makes me feel like a total person.

I haven’t been an actor who’s been able to pick and choose roles, and being a family man, it’s been about putting food on the table.

I knew I was as good as anybody. That’s not really bragging; it’s just that I’d put the time in.

Putting the Yankee uniform on every day.

If you look at it, the corset is a very beautiful item, but when I put one on, I realized how little you could actually move.

I’ve learned that it’s harder to try to put on this goody two-shoes persona when that’s not me.