One of the marks of true genius is a quality of abundance. A rich, rollicking abundance, enough to give indigestion to ordinary people. Great artists turn it out in rolls, in swatches. They cover whole ceilings with paintings, they chip out a mountainside in stone, they write not one novel but a shelf full. It follows that some of their work is better than other. As much as a third of it may be pretty bad. Shall we say this unevenness is the mark of their humanity - of their proud mortality as well as of their immortality?
Catherine Drinker BowenA woman's biography - with about eight famous historical exceptions - so often turns out to be the story of a man and the woman who helped his career.
Catherine Drinker BowenIn writing biography, fact and fiction shouldn't be mixed. And if they are, the fictional points should be printed in red ink, the facts printed in black ink.
Catherine Drinker BowenIf art has a purpose, it is to interpret life, reproduce it in fresh visions.
Catherine Drinker Bowen