The truth is that literature, particularly fiction, is not the pure medium we sometimes assume it to be. Response to it is affected by things other than its own intrinsic quality; by a curiosity or lack of it about the people it deals with, their outlook, their way of life.
—Vance Palmer (1885–1959)
The role of the writer is not simply to arrange Being according to his own lights; he must also serve as a medium to Being and remain open to its often unfathomable dictates. This is the only way the work can transcend its creator and radiate its meaning further than the author himself can see or perceive.
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
If I ever see more clearly at one time than at another, the medium through which I see is clearer.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)