If desire causes suffering it may be because we do not desire wisely or that we are inexpert at obtaining what we desire. Instead of hiding our heads in a prayer cloth and building walls against temptation why not get better at fulfilling desire Salvation is for the feeble thats what I think. I dont want salvation I want life all of life the miserable as well as the superb. If the gods would tax ecstasy then I shall pay however I shall protest their taxes at each opportunity and if Woden or Shiva or Buddha or that Christian fellow--whats his name--cannot respect that then Ill accept their wrath. At least I will have tasted the banquet that they have spread before me on this rich round planet rather than recoiling from it like a toothless bunny. I cannot believe that the most delicious things were placed here merely to test us to tempt us to make it the more difficult for us to capture the grand prize the safety of the void. To fashion of life such a petty game is unworthy of both men and gods.

If I were a character in one of my books Id be the optimistic one believing the best and urging others to do the same.

and sleeping put an end to summer 1928

I had a dream about a motorcycle said Harry remembering suddenly. It was flying.Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache MOTORCYCLES DONT FLYDudley and Piers sniggered.I know they dont said Harry. It was only a dream.

When a reader enters the pages of a book of poetry he or she enters a world where dreams transform the past into knowledge made applicable to the present and where visions shape the present into extraordinary possibilities for the future.

Something about the circus stirs their souls and they ache for it when it is absent.

Even if times got bad he would never again deny himself the possibility that the future might be happy even if the present was painful. He would allow himself dreams.

How is it that a full two centuries after Jane Austen finished her manuscript we come to the world of Pride and Prejudice and find ourselves transcending customs strictures time mores to arrive at a place that educates amuses and enthralls us It is a miracle. We read in bed because reading is halfway between life and dreaming our own consciousness in someone elses mind.

Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them the more likely they were to crack.

It is said that men may not be the dreams of the god but rather that the gods are the dreams of men.