"Why is a chain like the feline race? Because it's a catenation. — a catty nation."

"To elevate the soul poetry is necessary."

"It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneli…"

"The truth is, I am heartily sick of this life & of the nineteenth century in general. (I am convinced that every thing is going wrong)."

"A novelist, for example, need have no care of his moral. It is there -- that is to say, it is somewhere -- and the moral and the critics can take care of themselves. When the proper time arrives, all …"