A person either creates or destroys. There is no neutrality.

I blame myself for not often enough seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. Somewhere in his journals, Dostoyevky remarks that a writer can begin anywhere, at the most commonplace thing, scratch around in it long enough, pry and dig away long enough, and lo!, soon he will hit upon the marvelous.

Ninety per cent of life is a nightmare, do you think I am going to get it rounded up to hundred per cent?

Any artist should be grateful for a naive grace which puts him beyond the need to reason elaborately.

If I'm out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.

The challenge of modern freedom, or the combination of isolation and freedom which confronts you, is to make yourself up. The danger is that you may emerge from the process as a not-entirely-human creature. (Referenced in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young)

Some people, if they didn't make it hard for themselves, might fall asleep.