There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.

There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.

There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.

There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.

Words, words, words! They shut one off from the universe. Three quarters of the time one's never in contact with things, only with the beastly words that stand for them.

What a gulf between impression and expression! That’s our ironic fate—to have Shakespearean feelings and (unless by some billion-to-one chance we happen to be Shakespeare) to talk about them like automobile salesmen or teen-agers or college professors. We practice alchemy in reverse—touch gold and it turns into lead; touch the pure lyrics of experience, and they turn into the verbal equivalents of tripe and hogwash.