There are neither good nor bad subjects. From the point of view of pure Art, you could almost establish it as an axiom that the subject is irrelevant, style itself being an absolute manner of seeing things. – Gustave Flaubert
I love my work with a frenetic and perverse love, as an ascetic loves the hair shirt which scratches his belly. – Gustave Flaubert
Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as precise as geometry. – Gustave Flaubert
Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars. – Gustave Flaubert
In the first book of my Discworld series, published more than 26 years ago, I introduced Death as a character there was nothing particularly new about this – death has featured in art and literature since medieval times, and for centuries we have had a fascination with the Grim Reaper. – Terry Pratchett