If I Can Get Somewhere, I'm All

As Failures Go, Attempting To Recall The Past Is Like Trying To Grasp The Meaning Of Existence. Both Make One Feel Like A Baby Clutching At A Basketball: One's Palms Keep Sliding Off.

Out Of Dostoevsky: Kafka. Out Of Tolstoy: Margaret Mitchell. (in Conversation, Explaining His Dislike For Tolstoy)

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.

Tragedy, As You Know, Is Always A Fait Accompli, Whereas Terror Always Has To Do With Anticipation, With Man's Recognition Of Hisown Negative Potential--with His Sense Of What He Is Capable Of.

After Having Exhausted All The Arguments On Behalf Of Evil, One Utters The Creed's Dictums With Nostalgia Rather Than With Fervor.