I like the idea of isolation. I like the reality of it. You realize what you are... not that the knowledge is inevitably rewarding.

Neither as a writer nor, moreover, as a leader of a nation should you use terminology that obscures the reality of human evil.

My idea is simply - is very simple - is that the books of poetry should be published in far greater volume and be distributed in far greater volume, in far more substantial manner. You can sell in supermarkets very cheaply. In paperbacks. You can sell in drugstores.

I like the idea of isolation, I like the idea of solitude. You can be connected and have a phone and still be lonely.

When you have those two languages - an analytic one like English and a synthetic, very sensual thing like Russian, you get almost a psychotic sense of humanity that permeates nearly everything. It can help you understand, and it can discourage you, because you see how little can be done.

It is almost a rule that the more complex a man is, the simpler his billing. A person with a retrospective ability gone rampant often would be called an historian. Similarly, one to whom reality doesn't seem to make sense gets dubbed a philosopher.