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 …

- 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 …

- James Merrill

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

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

- James Merrill

In life, there are no perfect affections.

- 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 …

- James Merrill

Before trying a novel I wrote a couple of plays.

- James Merrill

The day is breaking someone else's heart.

- James Merrill