There Are Worse Crimes Than Burning Books.

If A Poet Has Any Obligation Toward Society, It Is To Write Well. Being In The Minority, He Has No Other Choice. Failing This Duty, He Sinks Into Oblivion. Society, On The Other Hand, Has No Obligation Toward The Poet. A Majority By Definition, Society Thinks Of Itself As Having Other Options Than Reading Verses, No Matter How Well Written. Its Failure To Do So Results In Its Sinking To That Level Of Locution At Which Society Falls Easy Prey To A Demagogue Or A Tyrant. This Is Society's Own Equivalent Of Oblivion.

Perhaps The Best Proof Of The Almighty's Existence Is That We Never Know When We Are To Die.

Every Writing Career Starts As A Personal Quest For Sainthood, For Self-betterment. Sooner Or Later, And As A Rule Quite Soon, A Man Discovers That His Pen Accomplishes A Lot More Than His Soul.

Persecution Mania Is Still Around. In Your Writing, In Your Exchanges With People, Meeting People Who Are In Russian Affairs, Russian Literature, Etcetera.

After Having Exhausted All The Arguments On Behalf Of Evil, One Utters The Creed's Dictums With Nostalgia Rather Than With Fervor.