The only human beings I have thoroughly admired and respected in the world have been those who carried the load of the world with ...a smile, and who, in the face of anxieties that would have knocked me clean out, never showed a tremor. Such men and women end by owning us, soul and body, and our allegiance can never be shaken. We are only too glad to be owned. Religion is nothing but this.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The truth is that literature, particularly fiction, is not the pure medium we sometimes assume it to be. Response to it is affecte...d by things other than its own intrinsic quality; by a curiosity or lack of it about the people it deals with, their outlook, their way of life.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The voice of America has no undertones or overtones in it. It repeats its optimistic catchwords in a tireless monologue that has t...he slightly metallic sound of a gramophone.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is the business of thought to define things, to find the boundaries; thought, indeed, is a ceaseless process of definition. It ...is the business of Art to give things shape. Anyone who takes no delight in the firm outline of an object, or in its essential character, has no artistic sense.... He cannot even be nourished by Art. Like Ephraim, he feeds upon the East wind, which has no boundaries.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Beyond the horizon, or even the knowledge, of the cities along the coast, a great, creative impulse is at work--the only thing, af...ter all, that gives this continent meaning and a guarantee of the future. Every Australian ought to climb up here, once in a way, and glimpse the various, manifold life of which he is a part.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I believe very profoundly in an over-ruling Providence, and I do not fear that any real plans can be thrown off the track. It may ...not be intended that I shall be President--but that would not break my heart.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »