“One writes to make a home for oneself, on paper, in time and in others' minds.”

“You can only write by putting words on a paper one at a time.”

“What's most revolting is that one is really sad! No, it's better at home. Here at least one blames others for everything and excuses oneself.”

“For no reason, but the sunrise, the bay of Naples, the sea—you look at them and it makes you sad. What’s most revolting is that one is really sad! No, it’s better at home. Here at least one blames others for everything and excuses oneself.”

“This willingness continually to revise one's own location in order to place oneself in the path of beauty is the basic impulse underlying education. One submits oneself to other minds (teachers) in order to increase the chance that one will be looking in the right direction when a comet makes its sweep through a certain patch of sky.”

“I always start writing with a clean piece of paper and a dirty mind. ”