We might remind ourselves that criticism is as inevitable as breathing, and that we should be none the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it, for criticizing our own minds in their work of cr

Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity

I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates

A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections

Each venture is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate with shabby equipment always deteriorating in the general mess of imprecision of feeling

When we read of human beings behaving in certain ways, with the approval of the author, who gives his benediction to this behavior by his attitude towards the result of the behavior arranged by himself, we can be influenced towards behaving in the sa

There is one order of beauty which seems made to turn heads. It is a beauty like that of kittens, or very small downy ducks making gentle rippling noises with their soft bills, or babies just beginning to toddle.

The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality

Art never improves, but . . . the material of art is never quite the same