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[H]aving had it suggested to him by a young friend that Picasso was "a wilful distortionist" who painted "rose-coloured women with gigantic feet," Kafka replied: "I do not think so…he only registers the deformities which have not yet penetrated our consciousness. Art is a mirror, which goes 'fast', like a watch - sometimes."

 Zadie Smith, again from Changing My Mind, quoting from Conversations with Kafka. In addition to her own brilliances, Smith's essays are full of jewels like this.