I believe I do much better for the time being by first copying some good things than by working without that foundation

We are surrounded by poetry on all sides.

...to look at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as I dream over the black dots of a map representing towns and villages. Why, I ask myself, should the shining dots of the sky not be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France?

Both she and I have grief enough and trouble enough, but as for regrets – neither of us have any.

How to achieve such anomalies, such alterations and re-fashionings of reality so what comes out of it are lies, if you like, but lies that are more than literal truth.

So often, a visit to a bookshop has cheered me, and reminded me that there are good things in the world.

I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say "he feels deeply, he feels tenderly".