It is only when we no longer compulsively need someone that we can have a real relationship with them.

Had [Winston Churchill] been a stable and equable man, he could never have inspired the nation. In 1940, when all the odds were against Britain, a leader of sober judgment might well have concluded that we were finished.

The human spirit is not indestructible; but a courageous few discover that, when in hell, they are granted a glimpse of heaven.

So-called "inspiration" is no more than an extreme example of a process which constantly goes on in the minds of all of us.

It is true that many creative people fail to make mature personal relationships, and some are extremely isolated. It is also true that, in some instances, trauma, in the shape of early separation or bereavement, has steered the potentially creative person toward developing aspects of his personality which can find fulfillment in comparative isolation. But this does not mean that solitary, creative pursuits are themselves pathological.

With the exception of certain rodents, no other vertebrate except Homo sapiens habitually destroys members of his own species.

The creative person is constantly seeking to discover himself, to remodel his own identity, and to find meaning in what he creates.