[T]here must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientist, can arrive at the truth about the human condition, h… - Ralph Ellison

I am standing puzzled, unable to decide whether the veil is really being lifted, or lowered more firmly in place; whether I am witnessing a revelation or a more efficient blinding.

But live you must, and you can either make passive love to your sickness or burn it out and go on to the next conflicting phase.

At best Americans give but limited attention to history. Too much happens too rapidly, and before we can evaluate it, or exhaust its meaning or pleasure, there is something new to concern us. Ours is the tempo of the motion picture, not that of the still camera, and we waste experience as we wasted the forest.