“Art is too often discounted as a secondary priority. The writer is necessary to society.”

“Olive Wellwood had the feeling writers often have when told perfect tales for fictions, that there was too much fact, too little space for the necessary insertion of inventions, which would here appear to be lies.”

“It is necessary to meditate early, and often, on the art of dying to succeed later in doing it properly just once.”

“Art has a noble task: to educate man. That's why the writer's part in our society is a most responsible one. The writers are the architects of human souls and the critics are the architects of the writer's souls.”

“I understand that art is a necessary component of a civilized society, but you cannot just go around shooting people. That's going to be a problem.”

“The plain working truth is that it is not only good for people to be shocked occasionally, but absolutely necessary to the progress of society that they should be shocked pretty often.”