“I am dragged along by a strange new force. Desire and reason are pulling in different directions. I see the right way and approve it, but follow the wrong.”

“I got nervous at bulls and eagles,Trying to figure what shape Zeus might take for sexWhen it could be your turn next. But now I don't care any longer,I've come to my senses, your profile leaves me cold.Why am I different? you ask. I'll tell you. Because you keep naggingFor presents. That's what turns me off.”

“Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.”

“I am the poet of the poor, because I was poor when I loved; since I could not give gifts, I gave words.”

“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow.”

“I am a shipwrecked man who fears every sea.”

“Thus I am not able to exist either with you or without you; and I seem not to know my own wishes.”