All mirrors are magical mirrors, and we never see our faces in them.

Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior.

The truth is that the phenomena of artistic production are still so obscure, so baffling, we are still so far from an accurate scientific and psychological knowledge of their genesis or meaning, that we are forced to accept them as empirical facts; and empirical and non-explanatory names are the names that suit them best.

The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection -even though nothing more than the pounding of an old piano -is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star.

Only those who get into scrapes with their eyes open can find the safe way out.

The notion of making money by popular work, and then retiring to do good work, is the most familiar of all the devil's traps for artists.

What I like in a good author is not what he says but what he whispers.