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Books aren’t made in the way that babies are: they are made like pyramids, There’s some long-pondered plan, and then great blocks of stone are placed ...more

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The public wants work which flatters its illusions.

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I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within.

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In my view, the novelist has no right to express his opinions on the things of this world. In creating, he must imitate God: do his job and then shut ...more

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You don’t make art out of good intentions.

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Sometimes I don’t understand why my arms don’t drop from my body with fatigue, why my brain doesn’t melt away. I am leading an austere life, stripped ...more

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I am an obscure and patient pearl-fisherman who dives into the deepest waters and comes up with empty hands and a blue face. Some fatal attraction dra...more

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The writer must wade into life as into the sea, but only up to the navel.

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On certain occasions art can shake very ordinary spirits, and whole worlds can be revealed by its clumsiest interpreters.