There must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientists, can arrive at the truth about the human condition, here and now, with all the bright magic of the fairy tale. – Ralph Ellison
The understanding of art depends finally upon ones willingness to extend ones humanity and ones knowledge of human life. – Ralph Ellison
By and large, the critics and readers gave me an affirmed sense of my identity as a writer. You might know this within yourself, but to have it affirmed by others is of utmost importance. Writing is, after all, a form of communication. – Ralph Ellison
Some people are your relatives but others are your ancestors, and you choose the ones you want to have as ancestors. You create yourself out of those values. – Ralph Ellison
In fairyland we avoid the word “law”; but in the land of science they are singularly fond of it…. The only words that ever satisfied me as describing Nature are the terms used in fairy books, “charm,” “spell,” “enchantment.” They express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery. – G.K. Chesterton, “The Ethics of Elfland,” Orthodoxy