common sense is a very tricky instrument; it is as deceptive as it is indispensable.

The seeds of civilization are in every culture, but it is city life that brings them to fruition.

Most new discoveries are suddenly-seen things that were always there. A new idea is a light that illuminates presences which simply had no form before the light fell on them.

The first impression of a work of art is its otherness from reality.

The Past, being in the mode of memory, is closed, inalienable, and irreparable.

Fire is a natural symbol of life and passion, though it is the one element in which nothing can actually live.

The secret of 'fusion' is the fact that the artist's eye sees in nature... an inexhaustible wealth of tension, rhythms, continuities, and contrasts which can be rendered in line and color.

Music is the tonal analogue of emotive life.

The high intellectual value of images, however, lies in the fact that they usually, and perhaps always, fit more than one actual experience.

If a work of art is a projection of feeling, its kinship with organic nature will emerge, no matter through how many transformations, logically and inevitably.

The fairytale is irresponsible; it is frankly imaginary, and its purpose is to gratify wishes, as a dream doth flatter.

See life and feel its pulses with the eyes of a compassionate mother.

The more we accept the imperfections of life, the more perfect life seems to become.

Salander was an information junkie with a delinquent child's take on morals and ethics.

Education isn't something you can finish

I know I've lost my mind. But I'm not concerned, because it's the first thing I've lost in a long time that actually feels good.

Live in the present. The past is gone; the future is unknown - but the present is real, and your opportunities are now.

You will never come up against a greater adversary than your own potential, my young friend.

Most producers get into it because they were just never handsome or charismatic or talented enough to be the star.

I could never have a mistress, because I couldn't bear to tell the story of my life all over again.

It's not easy to work with me, I recognize that. It's not easy if those people aren't as perfectionistic as I am.