Prose Books Are The Show Dogs I

There Should Be Two Main Objectives In Ordinary Prose Writing: To Convey A Message And To Include In It Nothing That Will Distract The Reader's Attention Or Check His Habitual Pace Of Reading - He Should Feel That He Is Seated At Ease In A Taxi, Not Riding A Temperamental Horse Through Traffic.

Originally Marriage Meant The Sale Of A Woman By One Man To Another; Now Most Women Sell Themselves Though They Have No Intention Of Delivering The Goods Listed In The Bill Of Sale.

There's A Cool Web Of Language Winds Us In, Retreat From Too Much Joy Or Too Much Fear: We Grow Sea-green At Last And Coldly Die In Brininess And Volubility.

If I Thought That Any Poem Of Mine Could Have Been Written By Anyone Else, Either A Contemporary Or A Forerunner, I Should Suppress It With A Blush; And I Should Do The Same If I Ever Found I Were Imitating Myself. Every Poem Should Be New, Unexpected, Inimitable, And Incapable Of Being Parodied.

I Have Done Many Impious Things--no Great Ruler Can Do Otherwise. I Have Put The Good Of The Empire Before All Human Considerations. To Keep The Empire Free From Factions I Have Had To Commit Many Crimes.