James Merrill quotes

Strange about parents. We have such easy access to them and such daunting problems of communication. (James Merrill)

The simplest science book is over my head.

James Merrill

At college I'd seen my dead frog's limbs twitch under some applied stimulus or other - seen, but hadn't believed. Didn't dream of thinking beyond or around what I saw.

James Merrill

And, as I have said, it's made me think twice about the imagination. If the spirits aren't external, how astonishing the mediums become! Victor Hugo said of his voices that they were like his own mental powers multiplied by five.

James Merrill

In life, there are no perfect affections.

James Merrill

Before trying a novel I wrote a couple of plays.

James Merrill

Arthur Young's Reflexive Universe - fascinating but too schematic to fit into my scheme. The most I could hope for was a sense of the vocabulary and some possible images.

James Merrill

But those two plays left me on fresh terms with language. I didn't always have to speak in my own voice.

James Merrill

I'd like to think the scientists need us - but do they? Did Newton need Blake?

James Merrill