Life is too short not to create, not to love, and not to lend a helping hand to our brothers and sisters.

An artist must struggle to accept the shape of this universe - and achieve some important successes.

Creativity requires introspection, self-examination, and a willingness to take risks. Because of this, artists are perhaps more susceptible to self-doubt and despair than those who do not court the creative muses.

Abstraction is itself an abstract word and has no single meaning ... Every word in our language is abstract, because it represents something else.

A key to a long, productive writing life is finding ways to support that life, emotionally and existentially.

The writer loves the fog as it pours in; he loves the sun when the fog pours out. The rest of California is Beach Boys country, but San Francisco has that moody thing going on, those blues notes wrapped in moisture, an atmosphere that tempers California dreaming and makes life more real. The fog brings reality, but it is still a California reality, one spent outdoors the whole year round.

Almost nothing beautiful or brilliant happens unless a person has thought about it a lot.