“One of the strangest things about writing well is that it requires two different zones in the brain--rigor and recklessness--simultaneously.”

“How I love them. How good they are. They endure endless hours of me talking about the future. They keep me near and at the same time bid me farewell. That is what real love is.”

“One loves art more than life; it's better than life, don't you think, Ali? It doesn't disappoint so," she sighed. "It's not so frightening," she said, her eyes filled with terror.”

“Huddled around the fire of the alphabet...”

“As if thought were not our most passionate, our most ardent aspect.”

“I believe in books.”

“You think an essay should have a hypothesis, a conclusion, should argue points. You really do bore me.”