“Every act of communication is an act of translation.”

“So the poor translator must not just go back and forth between two languages, but if he is worthy of his calling must shift between two selves, with all the perils of this induced schizophrenia.”

“Every virtuous act is inspired by a dark secret.”

“We are loping sequences of chemical conversions, acting ourselves converted. We are twists of genes acting ourselves twisted; we are wicks of burning neuroses acting ourselves wicked. And nothing to be done about it. And nothing to be done about it.”

“Every virtuous act has some Dark secret in its heart; every risk we take contains a mystery that can’t be solved.”

“Evil is an act, not an appetite. How many haven't wanted to slash the throat of some boor across the dining room table? Present company excepted of course. Everyone has the appetite. If you give in to it, it, that act is evil. The appetite is normal.”

“Children played at those stories; they dreamed about them. They took them to heart and acted as if to live inside them.”