The creative artist seems to be almost the only kind of man that you could never meet on neutral ground. You can only meet him as an artist. He sees nothing objectively because his own ego is always in the foreground of every picture
Interpretation
The creative artist is deeply personal in their perspective, making their art inseparable from their identity.
In this quote, Raymond Chandler reflects on the nature of creativity and the artistic process. He suggests that an artist cannot be understood outside the context of their art; their viewpoint is inherently subjective, shaped by their ego and personal experiences, which colors every aspect of their work. This implies that true understanding of an artist can only occur through engagement with their creations, as they reveal the artist's inner self and personal vision.
In practice
In a discussion about the role of personal experience in art, this quote emphasizes the inseparability of the artist from their work.
Undoubtedly the stories about them [hard-boiled detectives] had a fantastic element. Such things happened, but not so rapidly, nor to so close-knit a group of people, nor within so narrow a frame of logic. This was inevitable because the demand was for constant action; if you stopped to think you were lost. When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.
Organized crime is the dirty side of the sharp dollar.
When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.
The flood of print has turned reading into a process of gulping rather than savoring.
If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.
Drag breaks the fourth wall, which is why it's never been quite accepted, because nobody wants to be told that they are really a caricature of themself and to not take yourself too seriously.
A writer - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.
The only logical thing I can think of is that I knew there were such things as artists, and I knew there were none where I lived. So I knew that to be an artist you had to be somewhere else. And I very much wanted to be somewhere else.
The more I photograph women, the less it is about transformation. Women are beautiful. All that really matters is enhancing that.
You discover how confounding the world is when you try to draw it. You look at a car, and you try to see its car-ness, and you’re like an immigrant to your own world. You don’t have to travel to encounter weirdness. You wake up to it.
There is material enough in a single flower for the ornament of a score of cathedrals.
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