Teaching is the royal road to learning.
Jessamyn West

The basic essential of a great actor is that he loves himself in acting.
Jessamyn West

The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future.
Jessamyn West

The sick soon come to understand that they live in a different world from that of the well and that the two cannot communicate.
Jessamyn West

The source of one's joy is also often the source of one's sorrow.
Jessamyn West

The West is color. Its colors are animal rather than vegetable, the colors of earth and sunlight and ripeness.
Jessamyn West

There are two barriers that often prevent communication between the young and their elders. The first is middle-aged forgetfulness of the fact that they themselves are no longer young. The second is youthful ignorance of the fact that the middle aged are still alive.
Jessamyn West

We can love an honest rogue, but what is more offensive than a false saint?
Jessamyn West

We want the facts to fit the preconceptions. When they don't it is easier to ignore the facts than to change the preconceptions.
Jessamyn West

Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.
Jessamyn West

You read a book from beginning to end. You run a business the opposite way. You start with the end, and then you do everything you must to reach it.
Jessamyn West