The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.
|
Although most of us know Vincent van Gogh in Arles and Paul Gauguin in Tahiti as if they were neighbors -- somewhat disreputable but endlessly fascinating -- none of us can name two French generals or department store owners of that period. I take enormous pride in considering myself an artist, one of the necessaries.
|
I am always interested in why young people become writers, and from talking with many I have concluded that most do not want to be writers working eight and ten hours a day and accomplishing little; they want to have been writers, garnering the rewards of having completed a best-seller. They aspire to the rewards of writing but not to the travail.
|
I was brought up in the great tradition of the late nineteenth century: that a writer never complains, never explains and never disdains.
|
If a man happens to find himself, he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life.
|
Yo soy un anima infeliz,Perdida en este mundo atormendo.
I am a miserable spirit lost in this tormented world.
|
The arrogance of the artist is a very profound thing, and it fortifies you
|
If a man happens to find himself, he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life
|
I think the crucial thing in the writing career is to find what you want to do and how you fit in. What somebody else does is of no concern whatever except as an interesting variation
|
The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality
|
I was brought up in the great tradition of the late nineteenth century: that a writer never complains, never explains and never disdains
|
Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.
|
America is a nation with many flaws, but hopes so vast that only the cowardly would refuse to acknowledge them
|
I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter
|
An age is called Dark, not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.
|
Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries
|