Is it the obligation of great art to be continually interesting? I think not.

Mad people = People who stand alone and burn. I'm attracted to them because they give me permission to do the same.

In ‘life,’ I don’t want to be reduced to my work. In ‘work,’ I don’t want to be reduced to my life.

It's not 'natural' to speak well, eloquently, in an interesting, articulate way. People living in groups, families, communes say little - have few verbal means. Eloquence - thinking in words - is a byproduct of solitude, deracination, a heightened painful individuality. In groups, it's more natural to sing, to dance, to pray: given, rather than invented (individual) speech.

One can never ask anyone to change a feeling.

Why wouldn't you write to escape yourself as much as you might write to express yourself? It's far more interesting to write about others.

10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and the remaining 80 percent can be moved in either direction.