The difference between western and eastern intellectuals is that the former have not been kicked in the ass enough.
Witold GombrowiczIt is in the prime of youth that man sinks into empty phrases and grimaces. It's in this smithy that our maturity is forged.
Witold GombrowiczIf he [the Artist] were to take up the pen it would be...to better express his individuality and explain it to others; or else to put his internal affairs in order...to deepen and sharpen his relationship with his fellow men because other souls exert an immense and creative influence on our soul; or to try to fight for a world as he would like it to be, for a world that is indispensable to his life.
Witold GombrowiczTo me, art almost always speaks more forcefully when it appears in an imperfect, accidental, and fragmentary way, somehow just signaling its presence, allowing one to feel it through the ineptitude of the interpretation. I prefer the Chopin that reaches me in the street from an open window to the Chopin served in great style from the concert stage.
Witold Gombrowicz