The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it. How to Tell s Story

In my world, everything is possible and everything is relative. The Zahir

All colors and blends of Americans have somewhat the same tendencies. It's a breed — selected out by accident. And so we're overbrave and overfearful — we're kind and cruel as children. We're overfriendly and at the same time frightened of strangers. We boast and are impressed. We're oversentimental and realistic. We are mundane and materialistic — and do you know of any other nation that acts for ideals? We eat too much. We have no taste, no sense of proportion. We throw our energy about like waste. In the old lands they say of us that we go from barbarism to decadence without an intervening culture. East Of Eden

“No one, not even the starvation artist himself knew how great his achievement really was, and his heart grew heavy.”  A Hunger Artist