“Wants are never satiated. In fulfilling one desire, we neglect another.”

“Life seems to be a process of replacing one anxiety with another and substituting one desire for another--which is not to say that we should never strive to overcome any of our anxieties or fulfil any of our desires, but rather to suggest that we should perhaps build into our strivings an awareness of the way our goals promise us a respite and a resolution that they cannot, by definition, deliver.”

“Djuna had wanted a life of desire and freedom, not luxury but beauty, not security but fulfillment, not perfection but a perfect moment like this one...”

“... it is one thing to desire, another to be in capacity fit for what we desire.”

“The desire to write well can never be fulfilled without hard work.”

“Every want I fulfilled and every desire was quenched. I wanted for nothing. Except attention.”