“A work of art works because it is true, not because it is real.”

“Christianity isn't true because it works; it works because it's true.”

“Art flouts convention. Convention became convention because it works.”

“You suck at working with someone," I say, because it's true.”

“After all, what more does a true genius want? The mind itself is the palace where all the real treasures, the works of art, the indulgences exist.”

“...TV and popular film and most kinds of 'low' art-- which just means art whose primary aim is to make money-- is lucrative precisely because it recognizes that audiences prefer 100 percent pleasure to the reality that tends to be 49 percent pleasure and 51 percent pain. Whereas 'serious' art, which is not primarily about getting money out of you, is more apt to make you uncomfortable, or to force you to work hard to access its pleasures, the same way that in real life true pleasure is usually a by-product of hard work and discomfort.”