Personal Notebook
Learn to appreciate as an artist things as simple as the day; sleep; walking and running – a room – an ordinary phrase; to read an instinct; to drink, to gaze at oneself or speak to oneself – to see afresh, in other words, what has been seen so often – but in its place.
Except in exceptional circumstances, I don’t like consulting books on matters which seem to me to be capable of being worked upon and dealt with through isolated mental activity, on the basis of direct personal observation.
The things I most like to read, which force me to read them – and re-read them – are those I feel are moving me forward the most, which are not concerned with local matters, but growth, promise, extension – an outward detour which leads me back to myself, more enlightened and better armed.
Painters in the grand style were not concerned with style – they drew with clarity and rigor. Style was born from their work, and just as thought does not think about the sound of its voice nor even the rhythm, but creates them through its act – so they did not … Style must arise naturally from one’s attention to an object and it disappears as the awareness of this attention decreases.
The separation of the sciences and the arts is merely a matter of convention and convenience. But in thinking and acting, man transcends these categories which are simply particular acts. Each one implicitly contains the other.
Disgusted with being right, with doing what succeeds, with the effectiveness of methods, try something else.
To see is to forget the name of what one sees.
Books have the same enemies as people; fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content.
Our judgments judge us, and nothing reveals us, exposes our weaknesses, more ingeniously than the attitude of pronouncing upon our fellows.
Every man creates, without knowing it – Just as he breathes – But the artist feels himself creating – His act engages his whole being – His beloved pains fortify him
