Rembrandt was way ahead of his time. It's as if he was painting an amateur theatrical, or a professional theatrical, in his studio. It's a kind of performance.

Artists are expected to talk about their work but writers aren't expected to talk about their writing.

Beauty makes us more like ourselves and more like each other.

The artist is a strange being. I think it's safe to say that a real artist is conscious of having a personal singularity that is partly a blessing and partly a curse. An artist enjoys and suffers from isolation. As solitude, isolation can nurture. It can also destroy.

With art criticism it's difficult to discuss beauty, to assess it, because there's always the possibility that we're insane.

I can do pretty good work in various short forms, but anything over 1400 words, I'd be of no use. I like to say I'm a river navigator. I need to see the shore behind the shore.

The aesthetic experience has to be given. And beauty is a regular experience of every person - every person who is not clinically depressed!