A collection of writings about place space writing and art …
I take a lot of crap about my note-taking. Constant scribbling is so central to my persona, in fact, that one colleague recently expressed concern during a meeting when I wasn’t taking notes. “I forgot my pen,” I shrugged. Here’s the thing: I have a terrible memory — so if I don’t write it down […]
I believe it was Schiller who said that the only time a human being is free is when he or she creates a work of art; if that’s true, then a work of art is sacred and shouldn’t be compromised by mere ambition.
– Edmund White in his Paris Review Interview
“If you are a writer, you have to be someone who can be on your own. You can sit in a room for eight hours, and at the end of it you will have done something.”
– Stephen Jeffreys, 1950-2018, British, playwright
Naked Cities Note [MN]: The Guardian’s Obituary for Stephen Jeffreys can be found at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/sep/18/stephen-jeffreys-obituary
“The harder we try with the conscious will to do something, the less we shall succeed. Proficiency and results come only to those who have learned the paradoxical art of doing and not doing, or combining relaxation with activity.”
– Aldous Huxley, as quoted by Mark Manson in: markmanson.net/why-the-best-things-in-life-are-all-backwards
The gods have been good to me… they really have…
– Charles Bukowski from an Interview in Bukowski Reads Bukowski
“The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity.”
– Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss, historian
via “The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity.” — Art of Quotation
Ian Penman writes on the tragic life and enduring influence of the German literary critic …
via The Life and Influence of Walter Benjamin — RhysTranter.com
“Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? Why does one love the night, flowers, everything around one, without trying to understand them?” – Pablo Picasso, Spanish, painter, sculptor, printmaker, draftsman
via “Everyone wants to understand art. Why not…” — Art of Quotation
Walking through the Chambers Street IRT station on the West Side not long ago, I noticed these tile subway signs, pointing riders in the right direction to the 1, 2, and 3 trains. The station itself opened in 1918, and the signs look a lot newer than that. It’s kind of nice that the old-school […]
via The old-school subway signs at Chambers Street — Ephemeral New York
‘I am a kind Brahman in reverse who contemplates himself in agitation’
– Blaise Cendrars in Monique Chefdor’s, Introduction. Blaise Cendrars: A «symphonie contrastante.»
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