the secret of great creative people
April 1, 2008
“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.”
confusion of aims
April 1, 2008
A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem.
“Form follows emotion”
April 1, 2008
“Form follows emotion”
good prose
March 26, 2008
“Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an architectonic one when it is built, and a textile one when it is woven.”
autobiography, time, space
March 26, 2008
“Reminiscences, even extensive ones, do not always amount to an autobiography. For autobiography has to do with time, with sequence and what makes up the continuous flow of life. Here, I am talking of a space, of moments and discontinuities. For even if months and years appear here, it is in the form they have in the moment of recollection. This strange form — it may be called fleeting or eternal — is in neither case the stuff that life is made of.”
Strength lies in
March 26, 2008
“These are days when no one should rely unduly on his competence. Strength lies in improvisation. All the decisive blows are struck left-handed.”
Opinions are a private matter.
March 26, 2008
“Opinions are a private matter. The public has an interest only in judgments.”
the collector’s passion
March 26, 2008
“Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector’s passion borders on the chaos of memories.”
disappointed love
March 20, 2008
Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.
genius or talent or inspiration
March 20, 2008
What Romantic terminology called genius or talent or inspiration is nothing other than finding the right road empirically, following one’s nose, taking shortcuts.
