Anthony Marais

Writers are compulsive liars desperately trying to tell themselves the truth.

Writers are liars trying to come clean. That__ why the best ones are the most tragic.

It is said that the depressive has a clearer view of reality than does the euphoric. Perhaps, but the euphoric has a clearer view of life.

We are not born with a need for knowledge, but a hunger for it. Eve bit the apple and it has been gluttony ever since.

Literature is the product of a deep-seated need for honesty. Hence, those who lie most are struck most deeply by it, and those who are honest have no need for it.

We cannot escape the longing, no matter what life we choose. We__e either longing for people, places or times gone by, which are essentially the same things: memories. And, whether or not we travel, the older we get, the more memories we collect. Nostalgia is simply the result of aging and liking the life you__e lived. Be happy you can feel it__t__ a good sign.

Proximity to reality induces feelings of emptiness, horror and depression. Do not approach it alone.

To conceive of a god in one__ image is already quite a feat for inflated egos. To imagine, however, that this likeness has chosen your generation amongst the thousands for ending the party is to bring the egocentrism to new heights.

There is nothing more blinding than having seen the light, and nothing more tiresome than sharing it.

There is nothing wrong with being fascinated by the dark side of life, and ourselves, but woe to those who think this is representative of reality. All too many of us sit in our homes watching TV, falling prey to the delusion that the world is getting worse. If these sorry individuals spent more time meeting their neighbors, they__ discover that 95% of their peers are fine people.

Words are a means to an end. Those who chase after them inevitably fail to reach that end.

If an artist wants to be original, he should not look to art for inspiration, for art seeks its model in life, not art__nd only life is rich enough to simulate originality.

We are all born wise. Unfortunately, we all don__ die that way.

Wisdom doesn__ come only from the experience you have had, but from the experience you have chosen not to have.

Nothing distresses the civilized person like unfettered nature. The Grand Canyon seen from behind the railing is indeed a splendid sight, but as soon as the desert reclaims your golf course that is another matter altogether.

Infatuation is measured in pleasure. Love is measured in pain. Behold the value of pain!

We would like to think of death as a release from the pressures of existence, but this is a fatally mistaken thought: it is the ultimate culmination of those pressures.

It__ not words, but years we should be editing. Remember: time spent on bad art is a form of redundancy, doing the same thing twice is a form of tautology, and wasting precious moments complaining about life is a form of pleonasm. We should all learn to live our lives concisely.