I have never been able to look upon America as young and vital but rather as prematurely old, as a fruit which rotted before it had a chance to ripen.

America is no place for an artist: to be an artist is to be a moral leper, an economic misfit, a social liability. A corn-fed hog enjoys a better life than a creative writer, painter or musician. To be a rabbit is better still.

Day by day. No yesterdays and no tomorrows. The barometer never changes, the flag is always at half-mast.

What is an artist? He's a man who has antennae, who knows how to hook up to the currents which are in atmosphere, in the cosmos.

If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having.

The only law which is really lived up to wholeheartedly and with a vengeance is the law of conformity.

An artist earns the right to call himself a creator only when he admits to himself that he is but an instrument.