I think the mystery of art lies in this, that artistsโ relationship is essentially with their work โ not with power, not with profit, not with themselves, not even with their audience.
Ursula K. Le GuinGreat artists make the roads; good teachers and good companions can point them out. But there ain't no free rides, baby. No hitchhiking. And if you want to strike out in any new direction โ you go alone. With a machete in your hand and the fear of God in your heart.
Ursula K. Le GuinIn many college English courses the words โmythโ and โsymbolโ are given a tremendous charge of significance. You just ainโt no good unless you can see a symbol hiding, like a scared gerbil, under every page. And in many creative writing course the little beasts multiply, the place swarms with them. What does this Mean? What does that Symbolize? What is the Underlying Mythos? Kids come lurching out of such courses with a brain full of gerbils. And they sit down and write a lot of empty pomposity, under the impression that thatโs how Melville did it.
Ursula K. Le GuinNow they came back to him, on this night he was seventeen years old. All the years and places of his brief broken life came within mind's reach and made a whole again. He knew once more, at last, after this long, bitter, waisted time, who he was and where he was. But where he must go in the years to come, that he could not see; and he feared to see it.
Ursula K. Le Guin