The real sin against life is to abuse and destroy beauty, even one's own.

The greatest art comes out of warmth and conviction and deep feeling, but then, very few people, even geniuses, have all that.

You do not create a style. You work, and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being.

I get so tired of moral bookkeeping.

I shall try to tell the truth, but the result will be fiction.

And yet, we know how fatal the pursuit of liveliness may be: it may result in ... tiresome acrobatics. ... Flashy effects distract the mind. They destroy their persuasiveness; you would not believe a man was very intent on ploughing a furrow if he carried a hoop with him and jumped through it at every other step. ... When virtuosity gets the upper hand of your theme, or is better than your idea, it is time to quit.

You shouldn't side-step suffering if you have to go through it to get where you're going.