I believe one writes because one has to create a world in which one can live. I could not live in any of the worlds offered to me — the world of my parents, the world of war, the world of politics. I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breathe, reign, and recreate myself when destroyed by living. That, I believe, is the reason for every work of art.”
– Anais Nin

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”
– Anne Bradstreet, ‘Meditations Divine and Moral,’ 1655

I love SF. I love to read it; I love to write it. The SF writer sees not just possibilities, but wild possibilities. It’s not just ‘What if — ‘. It’s ‘My God, what if — ‘. In frenzy and hysteria. The Martians are always coming.”
– Philip K. Dick, Introduction to “The Golden Man,” 1980

A person is a poet if difficulties inherent in his art provide him with ideas. He is not a poet if they deprive him of ideas.”
– Paul Valery

If the muse is late for work, you start without her.”
– Peter S. Beagle

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”
–Voltaire