The self, the place where we live, is a place of illusion. Goodness is connected with the attempt to see the unself… to pierce the veil of selfish consciousness and join the world as it really is.
~ Erwin Schrödinger
slip:4a896.
Illusion →
Sculpting →
The sculptor must paint with his chisel: Half his touches are not to realize, but to put power into, the form. They are touches of light and shadow, and raise a ridge, or sink a hollow, not to represent an actual ridge or hollow, but to get a line of ight, or a spot of darkness.
~ John Ruskin
slip:4a894.
Rewriting →
Rewriting [is] very painful. You know it’s finished when you can’t do anything more to it, though it’s never exactly the way you want it… The hardest thing in the world is simplicity. And the most fearful thing, too. You have to strip yourself of all your disguises, some of which you didn’t know you had. You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal.
~ James Baldwin
slip:4a892.
True beauty →
Moral beauty is the basis of all true beauty. This foundation is somewhat covered and veiled in Nature. Art brings it out, and gives it more transparent forms.
~ Victor Cousin
slip:4a889.
The effort is real →
If you are going to be a writer there is nothing I can say to stop you; If you’re not going to be a writer nothing I can say will help you. What you really need at the beginning is somebody to let you know that the effort is real.
~ James Baldwin
slip:4a887.
Well adjusted →
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
slip:4a885.
Example of the mind →
The idea of the painter and the sculptor is undoubtedly that perfect and excellent example of the mind, by imitation of which imagined form all things are represented which fall under human sight.
~ John Dryden
slip:4a884.
Endurance →
Something that irritates you. That’s the anguish of it. Do this book, or die. You have to go through that. Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: Discipline, love, luck, but most of all, endurance.
~ James Baldwin
slip:4a882.
Actions →
Only actions give life strength; Only moderation gives it a charm.
~ Richter
slip:4a881.
Moderation →
Moderation resembles temperance. We are not so unwilling to eat more, as afraid of doing ourselves harm by it.
~ Rochefoucauld
slip:4a876.