“For a country to have a great writer is like having a second government. That is why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.”

Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation’s heart, the excision of its memory.

The next war… may well bury Western civilization forever.

The name of ‘reform’ simply covers what is latently a process of the theft of the national heritage.

How can you expect a man who’s warm to understand one who’s cold?

A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.

Anyone who has proclaimed violence his method inexorably must choose lying as his principle.

Man has set for himself the goal of conquering the world but in the processes loses his soul.

Our government declared that it is conducting some kind of great reforms. In reality, no real reforms were begun and no one at any point has declared a coherent programme.

Blow the dust off the clock. Your watches are behind the times. Throw open the heavy curtains which are so dear to you – you do not even suspect that the day has already dawned outside.

A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.

Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.

Literature becomes the living memory of a nation.

Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words.

Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing.

If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?

Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth.

My wife looked at me and said: ‘Boy, you are skinny, aren’t you?’ I said: ‘Honey, I’d like to remind you that it was minor defects like this that kept me from getting a better wife.’

In 1962 I was named Minor League Player of the Year. It was my second season in the bigs.

You know, I was once named Minor League Player of the Year… unfortunately, I had been in the majors for two years at the time.

I try to show the students what the major and minor genres of folklore are, and how they can be analyzed.

The law change during the Bush administration gave the Department of Health and Human Services a central role in relocating Central American minors in the United States.

Each sporadic burst of work, each minor success and disappointment, each moment of calm and relaxation.

I don’t know if I have the ability to write an ending like My Fair Lady’s, when everyone gets what they want after a few minor conflicts.

I have a few minor rules for myself but I break them all the time. For example, when translating from Romance languages to English, there is often a choice between a Latinate cognate and a Germanic equivalent.