“The secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer.” ~ Zadie Smith
Tag Archives: Quotes
Escape
“We do not escape into philosophy, psychology, and art–we go there to restore our shattered selves into whole ones.” ~ Anais Nin
To Be Alive is Grand
“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” ~ Agatha Christie
Comfort of Feeling Safe
“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of …
Creativity
“Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” ~ Charles Mingus
Coffee Cup
Make You Smile
“If you find someone who makes you smile, who checks up on you often to see if you’re okay. Who watches out or you and wants the best for you. Who loves and respects you. Don’t let them go. People like that are hard to find.” ~ Franz Kafka
People Write
“People write about getting sick, they write about tummy trouble, they write about having to wait for a bus. They write about waiting. They write three pages about how long it took them to get a visa. I’m not interested in the boring parts. Everyone has tummy trouble. Everyone waits in line. I don’t want …
Tremendous Hope and Spirit
“I wasn’t attractive, I wasn’t very verbal, I wasn’t very smart in school. I wasn’t anything that showed the world I was something special, but I had this tremendous hope all the time. I had this tremendous spirit that kept me going… I was a happy child, because I had this feeling that I was …
The Mainstream Media
“I was on television a couple of years ago and the reporter asked me, “How does it feel being on mainstream media? It’s not often poets get on mainstream media.” I said, “Well I think you’re the dominant media, the dominant culture, but you’re not the mainstream media. The mainstream media is still the high …
The Beat Generation
California October Nights
“The yard was full of tomato plants about to ripen, and mint, mint, everything smelling of mint, and one fine old tree that I loved to sit under on those cool perfect starry California October nights unmatched anywhere in the world.” ~ Jack Kerouac
Cats or People
“I prefer cats to people, for the most part. Most people aren’t cute at all, and if they are cute, they very rapidly outgrow it.” ~ William S. Burroughs
Documents Of The Mist
“Our radio plays rhythm and blues as we pass the joint back and forth in jutjawed silence both looking ahead with big private thoughts now so vast we can’t communicate them anymore and if we tried it would take a million years and a billion books – Too late, too late, the history of everything …
Tell The Truth
“The writer’s first job is not to have opinions but to tell the truth… and refuse to be an accomplice of lies and misinformation. Literature is the house of nuance and contrariness against the voices of simplification.” ~ Susan Sontag
If you worship money and things …
“If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a …
To Live An Interesting Life.
“To observe the world carefully, to write a lot and often, on a schedule, if necessary, to use the dictionary a lot, to look up word origins, to analyze closely the work of writers you admire, to read not only contemporaries but writers of the past, to learn at least one foreign language, to live …
Discover New Examples
“It always stimulates me to discover new examples of my own prejudice and stupidity, to realize that I don’t know half as much as I think I do.” ~ Paul Auster
Writing
In effect I am not a novelist, but rather a failed essayist who started to write novels because he didn’t know how to write essays. ~ Jose Saramago
Journey
Life before Death. Strength before Weakness. Journey before Destination. ~ Brandon Sanderson
An Appropriate Description to What it Was Like Here Shortly After Sunrise
“The day is cold, and dark, and dreary; It rains, and the wind in never weary; The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, But at every gust the dead leaves fall, And the day is dark and dreary.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Growing
“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another, unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made of layers, cells, …
All Books
“All books are either dreams or swords, you can cut, or you can drug, with words.” ~ Amy Lowell
Winter by Lauryn Hill
“Everything is everything What is meant to be, will be After winter, must come spring Change, it comes eventually” ~ Lauryn Hill
Knowing
“For to know nothing is nothing, not to want to know anything likewise, but to be beyond knowing anything, to know you are beyond knowing anything, that is when peace enters in, to the soul of the incurious seeker.” ~ Samuel Beckett
Thinking of the stars
Practice Kindness
“The world you see is just a movie in your mind. Rocks dont see it. Bless and sit down. Forgive and forget. Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you’re already in heaven now. That’s the story. That’s the message. Nobody understands it, nobody listens, they’re all running around like chickens with …
Your Sensations
“Sensations are the great things, after all. Should you ever be drowned or hung, be sure and make a note of your sensations; they will be worth to you ten guineas a sheet.” ~ Edgar Allan Poe
Realizations
“It was like that class at school where the teacher talks about Realization, about how you could realize something big in a commonplace thing. The example he gave–and the liar said it really happened–was that once while drinking orange juice, he’d realized he would be dead someday. He wondered if we, his students, had had …
“Our heads are round so thought can change direction” ~Allen Ginsberg
“Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read.” ~Joyce Carol Oates
Writing
“It’s not possible to advise a young writer because every young writer is so different. You might say, “Read,” but a writer can read too much and be paralyzed. Or “Don’t read, don’t think, just write,” and the result could be a mountain of drivel. If you’re going to be a writer, you’ll probably take …
“Great novelists are philosopher novelists – that is, the contrary of thesis-writers.” ~Albert Camus
Novels
“Novels are like paintings, specifically watercolors. Every stroke you put down you have to go with. Of course, you can rewrite, but the original strokes are still there in the texture of the thing.” ~ Joan Didion
Daydreamer
“The trouble with being a daydreamer who doesn’t say much is that the teachers at school, especially those who don’t know you very well, are likely to think you’re rather stupid. Or, if not stupid, then dull. No one can see the amazing things that are going on in your head.” ~ Ian Mcewan
Invincible Love
“My dear, In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that… In the midst of winter, …
Telling The Same Lies
“Every time I hear a political speech or I read those of our leaders, I am horrified at having, for years, heard nothing which sounded human. It is always the same words telling the same lies. And the fact that men accept this, that the people’s anger has not destroyed these hollow clowns, strikes me …
Big Cities Change
“The way our big cities change sucks. The beauty of cities was that they were edgy, sometimes even a little dangerous. Artists, poets, and activists could come and unify and create different kinds of scenes. Not just fashion scenes, scenes that were politically active. Big cities are getting so high-end oriented, business corporate fashion, fashion …
“It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.” ~Walter Lippmann
The More You Read
“The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.” ~ Stephen King
“Life is like walking through snow: every step shows.” ~Jess Lair
Successful Novel
“A successful novel should interrupt the reader’s life, make him or her miss appointments, skip meals, forget to walk the dog.” ~ Stephen King
Reading
“I don’t always, or even usually, read stories from beginning to end. I start anywhere and proceed in either direction. A story is not like a road to follow, it’s more like a house. You go inside and stay there for a while.” ~ Alice Munro
“To travel far, there is no better ship than a book.” ~Emily Dickinson
Your Mind
“Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.” ~ William S. Burroughs
Fear & Love
“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot …
Reality
“People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that’s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they’re afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us …
“What’s the point of being better than someone else?” ~Noam Chomsky
Nature
“As long as I live, I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can”.” ~ John Muir
“The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments.” ~Ludwig von Mises
“We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.” ~Joan Didion
December
“I heard a bird sing In the dark of December A magical thing And sweet to remember. ‘We are nearer to Spring Than we were in September,’ I heard a bird sing In the dark of December.” ~ Oliver Herford
“Don’t believe everything you hear – even in your own mind.” ~Daniel Amen
November
“No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds – November!” ~ Thomas Hood
Its a Lot Cheaper Talking to a Hair Stylist
Pass The Word Along
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Quote
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Writing
Embodiment of Love
The Soul
“Writing is hard, but the more you write, and enjoy what you write, the better it gets.” ~Alice Munro
“If you think of something, do it. Plenty of people often think, “I’d like to do this, or that.” ~Lydia Davis
Reading A Novel
“When you’re reading a novel, I think the reason you care about how any given plot turns out is that you take it as a data point in the big story of how the world works. Does such-and-such a kind of guy get the girl in the end? Does adultery ever bring happiness? How do …
Walking Meditation
“Walking is the great adventure, the first meditation, a practice of heartiness and soul primary to humankind. Walking is the exact balance between spirit and humility.” ~ Gary Snyder
“To be reborn, you have to die first.” ~ Lucien Carr
Big Cities
“The way our big cities change sucks. The beauty of cities was that they were edgy, sometimes even a little dangerous. Artists, poets, and activists could come and unify and create different kinds of scenes. Not just fashion scenes, scenes that were politically active. Big cities are getting so high-end oriented, business corporate fashion, fashion …
“we’re all golden sunflowers inside.” ~ Allen Ginsberg
“I do things like get in a taxi and say, “The library, and step on it.” ~David Foster Wallace
Responsible Decisions
“The place of stillness that you have to go to write, but also to read seriously, is the point where you can actually make responsible decisions, where you can actually engage productively with an otherwise scary and unmanageable world.” ~ Jonathan Franzen
Writing/Meaning/Thinking
“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” ~ Joan Didion
“Reading is a private pursuit; one that takes place behind closed doors.” `~Siri Hustvedt
“We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves.” ~Patti Smith
Repeat
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This And That
Suppose we wake up and see that what we thought to be this and that, ain’t this and that at all? -Jack Kerouac
The Moon
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Life
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Health will improve almost at once when worrying ends. ~Neale Donald Walsch
Money Is Numbers
Money is numbers and numbers never end. If it takes money to be happy, your search for happiness will never end. Bob Marley
Man And Nature
It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Don’t let one cloud obliterate the whole sky. ~Anais Nin
There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
Story is a metaphor for life and life is lived in time. ~Robert McKee
January
To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June. ~Jean-Paul Sartre
…the strongest friends of the soul – BOOKS… ~Emily Dickinson
Source: quote garden
“Great books help you understand, and they help you feel understood.” ~John Green
“There’s simply no polite way to tell people they’ve dedicated their lives to an illusion.” ~Daniel Dennett
Daniel Dennett, Philosopher
“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.” ~Christopher Hitchens
Change
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. ~ Alan Watts
Don’t Worry
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Four Words
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Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation. ~Sinclair Lewis
Nothing In The World Is Permanent
“Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.” ~ W. Somerset Maugham
“Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state.” ~John Locke
More ….
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Hopefully ….
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December
When dark December glooms the day, And takes our autumn joys away; When short and scant the sun-beam throws, Upon the weary waste of snows… ~Walter Scott, Marmion, 1808 Source: Quote Garden
“Don’t run too fast through life. You only have one.” ~ Bo Jackson
The best place to solve a problem is on paper. ~Jim Rohn
Feelings
The Earth Has Rights, Too
“Sooner or later, we will have to recognize that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans.” ~ Evo Morales, President of Bolivia
A Pondering Mind 
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