Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper not eternal bronze: Let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes.

I once worked as a salesman and was very independent. I took orders from no one.

Schools are not intended to moralize a wicked world, but to impart knowledge and develop intelligence, with only two social aims in mind: prepare to take on one's share in the world's work, and perhaps in addition, lend a hand in improving society, after schooling is done.

Except among those whose education has been in the minimalist style, it is understood that hasty moral judgments about the past are a form of injustice.

An artist has every right - one may even say a duty - to exhibit his productions as prominently as he can.

Look for all fancy wordings and get rid of themAvoid all terms and expressions, old or new, that embody affectation.

Of true knowledge at any time, a good part is merely convenient, necessary indeed to the worker, but not to an understanding of his subject: One can judge a building without knowing where to buy the bricks; one can understand a violin sonata without knowing how to score for the instrument. The work may in fact be better understood without a knowledge of the details of its manufacture, of attention to these tends to distract from meaning and effect.