The reason a writer writes a book is to forget a book and the reason a reader reads one is to remember it.

"Is this not the true romantic feeling; not to desire to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping you."

"Not even the most powerful organs of the press, including Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times, can discover a new artist or certify his work and make it stick. They can only bring you the scores."

"We are always acting on what has just finished happening. It happened at least 1/30th of a second ago. We think we're in the present, but we aren't. The present we know is only a movie of the past."

The surest cure for vanity is loneliness.