"... In fashioning a work of art we are by no means free, we do not choose how we shall make it but ... it pre-exists us and therefore we are obliged, since it is both necessary and hidden, to do what we should have to do if it were a law of nature –– that is to say, to discover it."
–– Marcel Proust (1871-1922), French writer and critic
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2008, p. 152.
"There is the hidden presence of others in us, even those we have known briefly."
–– Michael Ondaatje (b. 1943), Sri Lankan-born Canadian writer, editor and filmmaker
Source: Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero via Artpropelled
via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook 2017-2018 d, 2017, p. 20.
"The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers."
–– James Baldwin (1924-1987), American writer and activist
via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook, 2017 a, p. 41.
"Human life and objects and trees vibrate with mysterious meanings, which can be deciphered like cuneiform writing. There exists a meaning, hidden from day to day, but accessible in moments of greatest attentiveness, in those moments when consciousness loves the world."
–– Adam Zagajewski (1945-2021), Polish poet, essayist and translator
