Others

THERE ARE TWO MEN INSIDE THE ARTIST, THE POET AND THE CRAFTSMAN. ONE IS BORN A POET. ONE BECOMES A CRAFTSMAN.

ALL ART IS QUITE USELESS.

There are only two styles of portrait painting; the serious and the smirk.

IT IS DANGEROUS TO BE SINCERE UNLESS YOU ARE ALSO STUPID.

EASY READING IS DAMN HARD WRITING.

DON’T TELL ME THE MOON IS SHINING; SHOW ME THE GLINT OF LIGHT ON BROKEN GLASS.

DON’T TELL ME THE MOON IS SHINING; SHOW ME THE GLINT OF LIGHT ON BROKEN GLASS.

Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.

A SEQUEL IS AN ADMISSION THAT YOU’VE BEEN REDUCED TO IMITATING YOURSELF.

A SEQUEL IS AN ADMISSION THAT YOU’VE BEEN REDUCED TO IMITATING YOURSELF.

I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.

I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.

I can’t understand these chaps who go round American universities explaining how they write poems; it’s like going round explaining how you sleep with your wife.

A GOOD NOVEL TELLS US THE TRUTH ABOUT ITS HERO; BUT A BAD NOVEL TELLS US THE TRUTH ABOUT ITS AUTHOR.

To thine ownself be true.

Every man hath a good and a bad angel attending on him in particular all his life long.

The soul of man is immortal and imperishable.

Time ripens all things; no man is born wise.

The wise only possess ideas; the greater part of mankind are possessed by them.

To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals that is what keeps a man patient when the world ignores him, and calm and unspoiled when the world praises him.

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.

Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offers us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.

Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.