“Only the great masters of style ever succeed in being obscure.”

“I am called a great swordsman because I invented a lethal style; but who is greater, the creator of a killing form—or the master of the classic form?""I'm very flattered that you would consider me a master but really—""Not a master. The master.”

“The unity of style not only of the Christian Middle Ages but of the Renaissance expresses in each case the different structure of social power, and not the obscure experience of the oppressed in which the general was enclosed. The great artists were never those who embodied a wholly flawless and perfect style, but those who used style as a way of hardening themselves against the chaotic expression of suffering, as a negative truth. The style of their works gave what was expressed that force without which life goes unheard”

“If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style.”

“We are tied down to a language which makes up in obscurity what it lacks in style.”

“There is an enduring freshness in what remains strange and obscure which the cliches of greatness can only evoke nostalgia for.”