Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed?

It is difficult to undo our own damage, and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave.

The written word is weak. Many people prefer life to it. Life gets your blood going, & it smells good. Writing is mere writing, literature is mere. It appeals only to the subtlest senses—the imagination’s vision, & the imagination’s hearing—& the moral sense, & the intellect. This writing that you do, that so thrills you, that so rocks & exhilarates you, as if you were dancing next to the band, is barely audible to anyone else.

The creative process obtains in all creative acts. So if I'm painting suddenly I'll see something that I didn't see before.

It is difficult to undo our own damage, and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave. It is hard to desecrate a grove and change your mind. The very holy mountains are keeping mum. We doused the burning bush and cannot rekindle it; we are lighting matches in vain under every green tree.

Cruelty is a mystery, and a waste of pain.

People who take photographs during their whole vacation won't remember their vacation. They'll only remember what photographs they took.