To live in the world of creation—to get into it and stay in it—to frequent it and haunt it—to think intensely and fruitfully—to woo combinations and inspirations into being by a depth and continuity of attention and meditation—this is the only thing.
—Henry James, Notebook entry, quoted by Wallace Stevens in a letter to José Rodríguez Feo, June 20, 1945 in: Wallace Stevens Collected Poetry and Prose, p. 949 (Library of America ed. 1997)
