"I think it's very important for Arts Ministers to purchase art, to attend art, to validate art."

“Because I'm such a creative person, and I've always got my nose in a book, I suppose it was only a matter of time before non-fiction turned into fiction again. But I never consciously set out to become a writer and I never thought I'd be doing the things I'm doing today.”

“An uncle gave me a side drum and my mother decided I should have lessons.”

“Why do most great pictures look uncontrived? Why do photographers bother with the deception, especially since it so often requires the hardest work of all? The answer is, I think, that the deception is necessary if the goal of art is to be reached: only pictures that look as if they had been easily made can convincingly suggest that beauty is commonplace.”

“Free is not an alternative. My company did not turn a profit last year.”

“Fashion is what seems beautiful now but looks ugly later; art can be ugly at first but it becomes beautiful later.”

Source : "A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs" by Mona Simpson, www.nytimes.com. October 30, 2011.

“When we were small, Rose and I used to play a game called connect the dots. I loved it. I loved drawing a line from dot number 1 to dot number 2 and so on. Most of all, I loved the moment when the chaotic sprinkle of dots resolved itself into a picture. That's what stories do. They connect the random dots of life into a picture. But it's all an illusion. Just try to connect the dots of life. You'll end up with a lunatic scribble.”

Source : Franny Billingsley (2011). “Chime”, p.45, Penguin

“The more you drop into your heart, the more God can drop into your mind.”

“China is the most repressive censorship regime on the Internet.”