“And so, with a torn sleeve and a keyboard on which cigaretteash can rest, writers ended up arsonists of recycled material witha blanket over fast burning fires to send fragments of reality to thesky for people to manage any way they wish. Or can." (intro "Throwing Dice on a Chessboard”

“I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one. ”

“A writer off-guard since the materials with which he works are so dangerous can expect agony as quick as a thunderclap.”

“In reality there is no kind of evidence or argument by which one can show that Shakespeare, or any other writer, is "good". Nor is there any way of definitely proving that--for instance--Warwick Beeping is "bad". Ultimately there is no test of literary merit except survival, which is itself an index to majority opinion.”

“no two writers go about things in exactly the same way(intro)”

“People who spend most of their time putting out fires are usually also the arsonists.”