Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.

About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.

About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.

Art for art's sake is a philosophy of the well-fed.

Art for art's sake is a philosophy of the well-fed.

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.

One should never criticize his own work except in a fresh and hopeful mood. The self-criticism of a tired mind read more

One should never criticize his own work except in a fresh and hopeful mood. The self-criticism of a tired mind is suicide.

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.

Twentieth-century art may start with nothing, but it flourishes by virtue of its belief in itself, in the possibility of read more

Twentieth-century art may start with nothing, but it flourishes by virtue of its belief in itself, in the possibility of control over what seems essentially uncontrollable, in the coherence of the inchoate, and in its ability to create its own values.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn't make read more

As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn't make a turning point of it, we were assigned to the humanities, to poetry, philosophy, painting -- the nursery games of humankind, which had to be left behind when the age of science began. The humanities would be called upon to choose a wallpaper for the crypt, as the end drew near.