Writing Cannot Be Done In A State

Every Journalist Who Is Not Too Stupid Or Too Full Of Himself To Notice What Is Going On Knows That What He Does Is Morally Indefensible. He Is A Kind Of Confidence Man, Preying On People's Vanity, Ignorance Or Loneliness, Gaining Their Trust And Betraying Them Without Remorse.

Fidelity To The Subject's Thought And To His Characteristic Way Of Expressing Himself Is The Sine Qua Non Of Journalistic Quotation.

Biography Is The Medium Through Which The Remaining Secrets Of The Famous Dead Are Taken From Them And Dumped Out In Full View Of The World. The Biographer At Work, Indeed, Is Like The Professional Burglar, Breaking Into A House, Rifling Through Certain Drawers That He Has Good Reason To Think Contain The Jewelry And Money, And Triumphantly Bearing His Loot Away.

This Is What It Is The Business Of The Artist To Do. Art Is Theft, Art Is Armed Robbery, Art Is Not Pleasing Your Mother.

There Are Good Photographers Who Might Elevate Themselves To The Ranks Of The Great Simply By Burning Most Of Their Work.