Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.

Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.

The universe is made up of stories, not of atoms.

The universe is made up of stories, not of atoms.

Literature was formerly an art and finance a trade; today it is the reverse.

Literature was formerly an art and finance a trade; today it is the reverse.

A novel is a mirror carried along a main road.

A novel is a mirror carried along a main road.

Universities incline wits to sophistry and affectation.

Universities incline wits to sophistry and affectation.

If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no read more

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.

Just don't take any class where you have to read BEOWULF.

Just don't take any class where you have to read BEOWULF.

Here at lastWe shall be free;the Almighty hath not builtHere for his envy, will not drive us hence:Here we may read more

Here at lastWe shall be free;the Almighty hath not builtHere for his envy, will not drive us hence:Here we may reign secure, and in my choiceTo reign is worth ambition though in Hell:Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven. - Paradise Lost.

The great Cham of literature. (Samuel Johnson)

The great Cham of literature. (Samuel Johnson)