I think what gets you through a small writing project, is just one burst of inspiration. A book, especially a longer book, it's a different kind of force that pushes you through it. It's a vision of the whole thing.
Alan LightmanI picked such seemingly disparate essays, I thought it was important to say what was the guiding principle in the selection rather than focus on any one essay. I reached for some principle that had been subconscious in me and lifted it into consciousness. Authenticity and sincerity were the most important unifying principles of all these apparently different essays.
Alan LightmanI still will sit down at the piano and play when I am wrestling with something emotionally or just want to move into the musical world.
Alan LightmanThe tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present.
Alan Lightman