“To be an artist it is not necessary to make a living from our creations. Nor is it necessary to have work hanging in fine museums or the praise of critics. To be an artist it is necessary to live with our eyes wide open, to breath in the colors of mountain and sky, to know the sound of leaves rustling, the smell of snow, the texture of bark. To be an artist is to notice every beautiful and tragic thing, to cry freely, to collect experience and shape it into forms that others can share.”

“It is not necessary to have an extravagant food budget in order to serve things with variety and tastefully cooked. It is not necessary to have expensive food on the plates before they can enter the dining room as things of beauty in colour and texture. Food should be served with real care as to the colour and texture on the plates, as well as with imaginative taste. This is where artistic talent and aesthetic expression and fulfillment come in.”

“If an artist wants to use his mind for creative work, cutting oneself off from society is a necessary thing”

“writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.”

“Every true artist is the salvation of every other. Only artists produce for each other a world that is fit to live in.”

“Writing is the only art form where a good number of the artists make a slice of their living criticizing one another in print, in public. ”