Give Me Some Mud, And I Will

Commonplace People Have An Answer For Everything And Nothing Ever Surprises Them. They Try To Look As Though They Knew What You Were About To Say Better Than You Did Yourself, And When It Is Their Turn To Speak, They Repeat With Great Assurance Something That They Have Heard Other People Say, As Though It Were Their Own Invention.

We Should Not Allow Ourselves To Believe That Writers Like Poe Have More Imagination Than Those Who Are Content With Describing Things As They Really Are. It Is Surely Easier To Invent Striking Situations In This Way Than To Tread The Beaten Track Which Intelligent Minds Have Followed Throughout The Centuries.

Cold Exactitude Is Not Art... The So-called Consciousness Of The Majority Of Painters Is Only Perfection Applied To The Art Of Boring. People Like That, If They Could, Would Work With The Same Minute Attention On The Back Of Their Canvas.

There Is No Merit In Being Truthful When One Is Truthful By Nature, Or Rather When One Can Be Nothing Else; It Is A Gift, Like Poetry Or Music. But It Needs Courage To Be Truthful After Carefully Considering The Matter, Unless A Kind Of Pride Is Involved; For Example, The Man Who Says To Himself, "i Am Ugly," And Then Says, "i Am Ugly" To His Friends, Lest They Should Think Themselves The First To Make The Discovery.

I Am Carrying Out My Plan, So Long Formulated, Of Keeping A Journal. What I Most Keenly Wish Is Not To Forget That I Am Writing For Myself Alone. Thus I Shall Always Tell The Truth, I Hope, And Thus I Shall Improve Myself. These Pages Will Reproach Me For My Changes Of Mind.