“The truly radical work of art is the one that offers you something to hold on to in the midst of the flux of possibility.”

Resources of Hope (published posthumously in 1989), p. 118

The Influence of Literature upon Society (1800), Pt. 2, ch. 5

1920s, Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology (1929)
Context: In the inescapable flux, there is something that abides; in the overwhelming permanence, there is an element that escapes into flux. Permanence can be snatched only out of flux; and the passing moment can find its adequate intensity only by its submission to permanence.

Source: An Echo in the Darkness

As quoted in "Mansfield Park and Film : An Interview with Patricia Rozema" by Hiba Moussa, in Literature/Film Quarterly 32, No. 4 (2004), p. 255
Context: You cannot underestimate what a radical thing it is to change from one art form to another. An author slaves to start with just the right word, phrase, sentence, and paragraph. The sounds of the words are crucial. But all the demands of words and prose are lifted when you make a movie. The physical presence makes many unnecessary and some necessary ones impossible. So you serve two masters as an adapting filmmaker: the author's intention and the needs of film. Sometimes "fidelity" can mean only focusing on one day of a story told over twenty years in a book.

Source: 1970's, I Am Searching For Field Character,' 1973/74, p. 48

Source: Aleph