Certain events such as love, or a national calamity, or May, bring pressure to bear on the individual, and if the pressure is strong enough, something in the form of verse is bound to be squeezed out.
Boileau said that Kings, Gods and Heroes only were fit subjects for literature. The writer can only write about what he admires. Present-day kings aren’t very inspiring, the gods are on a vacation and about the only heroes left are the scientists and the poor… And since our race admires gallantry, the writer will deal with it where he finds it. He finds it in the struggling poor now.
Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.
Beans are a warm cloak against economic cold.
As the wine went down in the bottles, patriotism arose in the three men.
An answer is invariably the parent of a great family of new questions.
All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal.
All great and precious things are lonely.
Ah, the prayers of the millions, how they must fight and destroy each other on their way to the throne of God.
A plan is a real thing, and things projected are experienced. A plan once made and visualized becomes a reality along with other realities – never to be destroyed but easily to be attacked.
A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers.
A man so painfully in love is capable of self-torture beyond belief.
