In displaying the psychology of your characters, minute particulars are essential. God save us from vague generalizations!

My business is to be talented, that is, to be capable of selecting the important moments from the trivial ones. . . . It's about time for writers - particularly those who are genuine artists - to recognize that in this world you cannot figure out everything. Just have a writer who the crowds trust be courageous enough and declare that he does not understand everything, and that alone will represent a major contribution to the way people think, a long leap forward.

The wealthy are always surrounded by hangers-on; science and art are as well.

I don’t understand anything about the ballet; all I know is that during the intervals the ballerinas stink like horses.

Anyone who says the artist's field is all answers and no questions has never done any writing or had any dealings with imageryYou are confusing two concepts: answering the questions and formulating them correctly. Only the latter is required of an author.

If I were asked to chose between execution and life in prison I would, of course, chose the latter. It's better to live somehow than not at all.

The desire to serve the common good must without fail be a requisite of the soul, a necessity for personal happiness; if it issuesnot from there, but from theoretical or other considerations, it is not at all the same thing.