To Be Understood A Writer Has To

There Is No Merit In Being Truthful When One Is Truthful By Nature, Or Rather When One Can Be Nothing Else; It Is A Gift, Like Poetry Or Music. But It Needs Courage To Be Truthful After Carefully Considering The Matter, Unless A Kind Of Pride Is Involved; For Example, The Man Who Says To Himself, "i Am Ugly," And Then Says, "i Am Ugly" To His Friends, Lest They Should Think Themselves The First To Make The Discovery.

I Live In Company With A Body, A Silent Companion, Exacting And Eternal. He It Is Who Notes That Individuality Which Is The Seal Of The Weakness Of Our Race. My Soul Has Wings, But The Brutal Jailer Is Strict.

We Should Not Allow Ourselves To Believe That Writers Like Poe Have More Imagination Than Those Who Are Content With Describing Things As They Really Are. It Is Surely Easier To Invent Striking Situations In This Way Than To Tread The Beaten Track Which Intelligent Minds Have Followed Throughout The Centuries.

If You Are Not Skillful Enough To Sketch A Man Jumping Out Of A Window In The Time It Takes Him To Fall From The Fourth Storey To The Ground, You Will Never Be Able To Produce Great Works.

Delsarte Tells Me That Mozart Stole Outrageously From Galuppi, In The Same Way, I Suppose, That Molière Stole From Anybody Anywhere, If He Found Something Work Taking. I Said That What Was Mozart Had Not Been Stolen From Galuppi, Or From Anyone Else For That Matter.