“It is only when the mind and imagination are enriched from exposure to the world of beauty, that artistic creativity and inspiration truly becomes manifest.”

“We like to think of creativity as a space for untrammelled imagination, free from all constraints. Yetwhile freedom, rule-breaking and inspiration are undoubtedly essential to the creative process, thepopular image of creativity overlooks another aspect: examine the life of any great artist and youwill find evidence of hard work, discipline and a hard-won knowledge of the rules and conventionsof their medium.”

“Memories which someday will become all beautiful when the last annoyance that encumbers them shall have faded out of our minds.”

“Then he asked if I didn’t like things changing. And I said I wouldn’t mind things changing if I became an astronaut, for example, which is one of the biggest changes you can imagine, apart from becoming a girl or dying.”

“Perhaps things are most beautiful when they are not quite real; when you look upon a scene as an outsider, and come to possess it in its entirety and forever; when you live in the present with the lucidity and feeling of memory; when, for want of connection, the world deepens and becomes art.”

“I think my mother's and Granny's storytelling had had the same effect upon me when a child, as the reading of books: my mind was stimulated, my creativity encouraged.”

“Civilization is only possible for deeply unpleasant animals. It is only an ape that can be truly civilized.”