A girl's brain is mysterious, but only in a superficial way-a way very exasperating to me.

The goal is the same: life itself; and the price is the same; life itself.

The mere attempt to examine my own confusion would consume volumes.

You must be in tune with the times and prepared to break with tradition.

The artist's task is not to alter the world as the eye sees it into a world of aesthetic reality, but to perceive the aesthetic reality within the actual reality. (On photographs by Helen Levitt)

Isn’t every human being both a scientist and an artist; and in writing of human experience, isn’t there a good deal to be said for recognizing that fact and for using both methods?

Some people get where they hope to in this world. Most of us don't.

You've got to bear it in mind that nobody that ever lived is specially privileged; the axe can fall at any moment, on any neck, without any warning or any regard for justice.

I'm very anxious not to fall into archaism or 'literary' diction. I want my vocabulary to have a very large range, but the words must be alive.

A mother never realizes that her children are no longer children.

The camera seems to me, next to unassisted and weaponless consciousness, the central instrument of our time.

Oh, I am fortune's fool!

The best gift you can give to someone is spending time with them. The worst thing you can do someone is to avoid them when they badly need you.

Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his [sic!] time but most people are far behind theirs.

Every person is responsible for all the good within the scope of his abilities and for no more.

There is always time to take more time.

I think of translations as passing some scholarly smell test: you can read the words of the translation and be reasonably sure of what the words are in the original.

Let go of what you think you need & what you really need will show up.

Chicago is known as the Windy City, and Montana is called the Big Sky State, so I think that we should somehow combine the two to create the ultimate kite-flying experience.

India of the ages is not dead nor has she spoken her last creative word; she lives and has still something to do for herself and the human peoples.

The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.