honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.” Good to remember…

…the real troubles with living is that living is so banal.

It is the sheer ugliness and banality of everyday life which turns my blood to ice and makes me cringe in terror.

Their home was nice, the food was nice, the girls were nice – nice, nice, nice.I disappointed myself by finding our perfectly pleasant lunch with perfectly pleasant people inadequate. […] These were good people and...

So always avoid banality. That is, avoid illustrating the author’s words and remarks. If you want to create a true masterpiece you must always avoid beautiful lies: the truths on the calender under each date...

Intellectuals are judged not by their morals, but by the quality of their ideas, which are rarely reducible to simple verdicts of truth or falsity, if only because banalities are by definition accurate.

At Dachau. We had a wonderful pool for the garrison children. It was even heated. But that was before we were transferred. Dachau was ever so much nicer than Auschwitz. But then, it was in...

Evil that arises out of ordinary thinking and is committed by ordinary people is the norm, not the exception.

I felt despair. The word’s overused and banalified now, despair, but it’s a serious word, and I’m using it seriously. For me it denotes a simple admixture — a weird yearning for death combined with...