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

I have a total responsibility to the reader. The reader has to trust me and never feel betrayed.

I find that the mask of the critic is to have distance.

Everything I've learned about art was (a) because I was actually interested, or (b) I was actually interested in covering my ass because of what I was writing about.

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

It's my duty to sell the ideas. But there's always a question when it comes to beauty.

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.