Writing
Quotes - Write what should not be forgotten
“I
haven't any right to criticize books, and I don't do it except when I hate
them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I
can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every
time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and
beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.”
―
Mark Twain
“Write
what should not be forgotten.”
―
Isabel Allende
“Go
into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it
has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself
whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.
This
most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write?
Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if
you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your
life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest
and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. Then
come close to Nature. Then, as if no one had ever tried before, try to say what
you see and feel and love and lose...
...Describe
your sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your
belief in some kind of beauty - describe all these with heartfelt, silent,
humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the Things around you, the
images from your dreams, and the objects that you remember. If your everyday
life seems poor, don’t blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are
not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is
not poverty and no poor, indifferent place. And even if you found yourself in
some prison, whose walls let in none of the world’s sounds – wouldn’t you still
have your childhood, that jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of
memories? Turn your attentions to it. Try to raise up the sunken feelings of
this enormous past; your personality will grow stronger, your solitude will
expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise
of other people passes by, far in the distance. - And if out of this turning-within,
out of this immersion in your own world, poems come, then you will not think of
asking anyone whether they are good or not. Nor will you try to interest
magazines in these works: for you will see them as your dear natural
possession, a piece of your life, a voice from it. A work of art is good if it
has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.”
―
Rainer Maria Rilke
“People
love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't
like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their
puppy.”
―
Joss Whedon
“I
hate writing, I love having written.”
―
Dorothy Parker
“A
non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity."
[Letter
to Max Brod, July 5, 1922]”
―
Franz Kafka
“I have
claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I
do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn
or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned
if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot
do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?”
―
J.R.R. Tolkien
“Writing
isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or
making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will
read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up,
getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.”
―
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“A
woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”
―
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
“Find
out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots
into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if
you were forbidden to write.”
―
Rainer Maria Rilke
“Amateurs
sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
―
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“Easy
reading is damn hard writing.”
―
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“great
writers are indecent people
they
live unfairly
saving
the best part for paper.
good
human beings save the world
so
that bastards like me can keep creating art,
become
immortal.
if
you read this after I am dead
it
means I made it.”
―
Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last
