Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it.

Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms, is like a sonnet: You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. - Mrs. Whatsit

When the bright angel dominates, out comes a great work of art, a Michelangelo David or a Beethoven symphony.

When the bright angel dominates, out comes a great work of art, a Michelangelo David or a Beethoven symphony.

Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.

I like the fact that in ancient Chinese art the great painters always included a deliberate flaw in their work: human creation is never perfect.