Ecstasy is the accurate term for the intensity of consciousness that occurs in the creative act.

There can be no stronger proof of the impoverishment of our contemporary culture than the popular - though profoundly mistaken - definition of myth as falsehood.

Dogmatism of all kinds--scientific, economic, moral, as well as political--are threatened by the creative freedom of the artist. This is necessarily and inevitably so. We cannot escape our anxiety over the fact that the artists together with creative persons of all sorts, are the possible destroyer of our nicely ordered systems. (p. 76)

Evil, in this system of ethics, is that which tears apart, shuts out the other person, raises barriers, sets people against each other.

Poets may be delightful creatures in the meadow or the garret, but they are menaces on the assembly line.

Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one's death.

Human freedom involves our capacity to pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight.