Rebecca West

"Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience."

"A strong hatred is the best lamp to bear in our hands as we go over the dark places of life, cutting away the dead things men tell us to revere."

"Writing has nothing to do with communication between person and person, only with communication between different parts of a person's mind."

"There is no wider gulf in the universe than yawns between those on the hither and thither side of vital experience."

"It is sometimes very hard to tell the difference between history and the smell of skunk."

"There is no logical reason why the camel of great art should pass through the needle of mob intelligence."