“She is a wiry blanched creature with no beauty. Her expression reminds him of a crumpled letter there is both sadness and anger in it.”

“He likes to think of himself as someone who can give quick clever answers to awkward questions. It is an important part of his self-esteem.”

“The act of creation, the impetus to undertake it, is always some kind of feeble attempt to understand ones own creation, the nature of creation itself.”

“The snow, the effect of concealment and secrecy it creates, makes him think of the brutality of the wartime legislation to forbid and violently extract secrets. It is as if the hushed white landsca...”

“Today she feels she is the master of her craft. Today she is free of the grinding tyranny of doubt. The voice that mocks her ambition. The voice that bites and slanders and causes her more heartach...”

“Esme skips on ahead. Jumping from one foot to the other, as if she can see markings on the ground he cant. She is constantly jumping and skipping and twirling with the lightness of falling snow, lo...”

“The only artists I have ever known who are personally delightful are bad artists. Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great...”

“What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. ... In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colouring, sportmen the cove...”

“What we get when we turn pro is we find our power. We find our will and our voice and we find our self-respect. We become who we always were but had, until then, been afraid to embrace and live out.”