"The intellectual is a middle-class product; if he is not born into the class he must soon insert himself into it, in order to exist. He is the fine nervous flower of the bourgeoisie."

"Your work is carved out of agony as a statue is carved out of marble."

"Stupidity always accompanies evil. Or evil, stupidity."

"Innocence of heart and violence of feeling are necessary in any kind of superior achievement: The arts cannot exist without them."

"Because language is the carrier of ideas, it is easy to believe that it should be very little else than such a carrier."

"But childhood prolonged, cannot remain a fairyland. It becomes a hell."

"No more pronouncements on lousy verse. No more hidden competition. No more struggling not to be a square."