A charm invests a faceImperfectly beheld,—The lady dare not lift her veilFor fear it be dispelled. But peers beyond her mesh,And wishes, and denies,—Lest interview annul a wantThat image satisfies. Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
I once asked a young dissertation writer whether her suddenly grayed hair was due to ill health or personal tragedy; she answered: “It was the footnotes”. Joanna Russ, How to Suppress Women’s Writing
I make art, sometimes I make true art, and sometimes it fills the empty places in my life. Some of them. Not all. Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.” Robert Hughes, [Modernism’s Patriarch (Time Magazine, June 10, 1996)]
A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist. Vladimir Nabokov
Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change – it can not only move us, it makes us move. Ossie Davis
It’s not enough to be nice in life. You’ve got to have nerve. Georgia O’Keeffe
Art is the provocation for talking about enigma and the search for sense in human life. One can do that by telling a story or writing about a fresco by Giotto or studying how a snail climbs up a wall. John Berger
Everyday Strange 