“I think you are not tolerant enough of the instinct for conquest in language, the attempt to push out its boundaries, to win for it continually some new swiftness, some rare compression, to distil from it a more opaline drop.”

Defending linguistic innovation and the poet’s right to expand the resources of language · Letter (collected letters)

• Innovation
• Language
• Poetry

“The dark cellar ripens the wine.”

On the value of enforced patience or hardship in ripening character or work · Letter, to a friend (as commonly cited from collected letters)

• Adversity
• Growth
• Patience

“And meanwhile, after one's eyes get used to the dirty light, and one’s feet to the mildew, a cellar has its compensations. I have found beetles of the most interesting proclivities, mice altogether comradely and persuadable, and forgotten potatoes that sprouted toward the crack of sunshine with a wan maiden grace not seen above.”

Finding unexpected interest and companionship even in restricted circumstances · Letter, to a friend (collected letters)

• Acceptance
• Observation
• Solitude