I have often misunderstood men grossly, and I have misrepresented them when I understood them, sacrificing sense to make a phrase. Here, of course, is where even the most conscientious critic often goes aground; he is apt to be an artist before he is a scientist, and the impulse to create something passionately is stronger in him than the impulse to state something accurately. H.l. Mencken
But instead of spending our lives running towards our dreams, we are often running away from a fear of failure or a fear of criticism.
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Eric Wright
A creative life cannot be sustained by approval any more than it can be destroyed by criticism.
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Will Self
Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.
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Flannery OConnor
Eccentricity is not, as some would believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions...
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Edith Sitwell
Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, orperhaps of subconsciousness– I wouldn't know. But I amsure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.
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Aaron Copland
More Quotes By H.l. Mencken
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
Happiness is the china shop love is the bull.
You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.
The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it makes a better soup.
