He puts his right hand lightly on the cup, I put my left, leaving the right free to transcribe, and away we go. We get, oh, 500 to 600 words an hour. Better than gasoline. — James Merrill Copy Share Image
I'd like to think the scientists need us - but do they? Did Newton need Blake? — James Merrill Copy Share Image
At college I'd seen my dead frog's limbs twitch under some applied stimulus or other - seen, but hadn't believed. Didn't dream of thinking… — James Merrill Copy Share Image
“Lost, is it, buried? One more missing piece? But nothing's lost. Or else: all is translation And every bit of us is lost in… — James Merrill Copy Share Image
I see those two hearts, I'm afraid, Still. Cool here in the graveyard of good and evil, They are even so to be honored… — James Merrill Copy Share Image
“Freedom to be oneself is all very well; the greater freedom is not to be oneself.” — James Merrill Copy Share Image
Arthur Young's Reflexive Universe - fascinating but too schematic to fit into my scheme. The most I could hope for was a sense of… — James Merrill Copy Share Image
Strange about parents. We have such easy access to them and such daunting problems of communication. — James Merrill Copy Share Image
And, as I have said, it's made me think twice about the imagination. If the spirits aren't external, how astonishing the mediums become! Victor… — James Merrill Copy Share Image
Knowing some Greek helped defuse forbidding words - not that I counted much on using them. You'll find only trace elements of this language… — James Merrill Copy Share Image
But those two plays left me on fresh terms with language. I didn't always have to speak in my own voice. — James Merrill Copy Share Image
