If it weren’t for books, it would be almost as if none of these names had ever existed, and if … More

We fret about words, we writers. Words mean. Words point. They are arrows. Arrows stuck in the rough hide of … More

The reader who arose from the mechanical reproduction of literature is a reader acutely aware of the disjunction between book … More

At this point Kublai Khan interrupted him or imagined interrupting him, or Marco Polo imagined himself interrupted with a question … More

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the … More

Accept that I can plan nothing. Any consideration that I make about the ‘construction’ of a picture is false and … More

At its best, visual art is philosophy by other means and poetry without words. Visual art asks the grandest questions, … More

‘What is this terrible enthusiasm you have for ideas?’ ‘What?’ My voice came out a croak, a papery rasp. I … More