Poetry Has Been The Longest Pleasure Of

That Was The Trouble With Experience; It Taught You That Most People Were Capable Of Anything, So That Loyalty Was Never Quite On Firm Ground -- Or, Rather, Became A Matter Of Pardoning Offenses Instead Of Denying Their Existence.

A Poet Or Novelist Will Invent Interruptions To Avoid Long Consecutive Days At The Ordained Page; And Of These The Most Pernicious Are Other Kinds Of Writing -- Articles, Lectures, Reviews, A Wide Correspondence.

The United Nations Emerged As A Temple Of Official Good Intentions, A Place Where Governments Might - Without Abating Their Transgressions - Go To Church; A Place Made Remote - By Agreed Untruth And Procedural Complexity, And By Tedium Itself - From The Risk Of Intense Public Involvement.

In England, Life Is A Long Process Of Composing Oneself.

When People Say Of Their Tragedies, 'i Don't Often Think Of It Now,' What They Mean Is It Has Entered Permanently Into Their Thoughts, And Colors Everything.