War Is Utter Damn Nonsense,

The Fascinating Thing To A Dispassionate Observer About The Structure Of Life In The Soviet Union Is That In Their Efforts To Produce An Unknown That We May Let Its Ideologists Call Socialism The Communist Dictators Have Produced A Brutal Approximation Of Monopoly Capitalism, A System That Has All The Disadvantages Of Our Own, With None Of The Palliatives Which Come To Us From Surviving Competition And From The Essential Division Of Economic And Political Power Which Has So Far Made It Possible For The Humane Traditions Of The Western World To Continue.

I Think The Satirist Is Always Basically Optimistic. The Satirist's Complaint About Society Is Always That It Doesn't Measure Up To A Fairly High Ideal He Has. I Think That Even The Bitterest Satirist, Even A Man Like Swift, Was Probably Rather An Optimist At Heart.

Letters Are Largely Written To Get Things Out Of Your System.

I Never Understood Exactly Why People Get Engaged--the Only Time I Ever Did The Most Disastrous Things Happened--but I Feel That There's A Great Deal To Be Said For Immediate Matrimony Always. If I Once Got Started I'd Probably Have To Become A Mormon To Cover My Confusion. What I Mean Is That If He And She Are Crazy About Each Other It Is Sheer Tempting God To Stay Apart, Come What May. And If People Arent Crazy About Each Other Being Engaged Wont Help Them.

A Curious Thing About Atrocity Stories Is That They Mirror, Instead Of The Events They Purport To Describe, The Extent Of The Hatred Of The People That Tell Them. Still, You Can't Listen Unmoved To Tales Of Misery And Murder.