The service of philosophy, of speculative culture, towards the human spirit, is to rouse, to startle it to a life of constant and eager observation.

Great passions may give us a quickened sense of life, ecstasy and sorrow of love, the various forms of enthusiastic activity, disinterested or otherwise, which comes naturally to many of us.

One of the most beautiful passages of Rousseau is that in the sixth book of Confessions, where he describes the awakening in him of the literary sense. Of such wisdom, the poetic passion, the desire of beauty, the love of art for its own sake, has most.

Not the fruit of experience, but experience itself, is the end.

I certainly derived my skills as a prose writer from my scrutiny of poetry and of the individual word. But schools don't do things like that anymore - tracking words down to their roots.

Creativity is not a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed by the angels. It's a skill.

I'm interested in the theater because I'm interested in communication with audiences. Otherwise I would be in concert music.

There's something magical about a home run. It almost violates the space of the stadium. It's a game of the imagination in some ways. Baseball.