I Always Say To My Students, If

An Abiding Preoccupation For Me Is How Much Of Our Lives Are Invisible And Unknown By Other People Like The Chekhov Story The Lady With The Little Dog.

If You’re Reading To Find Friends, You’re In Deep Trouble. We Read To Find Life, In All Its Possibilities. The Relevant Question Isn’t ‘is This A Potential Friend For Me?’ But ‘is This Character Alive?'

Geniuses Have The Shortest Biographies.

There Questions Of Wanting To Be An Artist, And What Does That Mean, What Makes You An Artist? Are You An Artist If You're In A Gallery In New York And Not An Artist If You're Doing It At Home? Do You Need Legitimation To Count? If You've Been Acculturated To Believe That You Have Certain Obligations - Familial, Social, Human - If Multitasking Has Been Your Forte And That's What's Been Praised And Rewarded, Where Do You Find The Single-mindedness, The Selfishness To Do Something Like Art? I Think Those Are Questions That Arise Differently For Women And For Men.

I Always Say To My Students, If You Can Do Anything Other Than Writing And Be Happy, Then You Should.