Quotessence
Home / Authors / Catherine Drinker Bowen
Catherine Drinker Bowen

Catherine Drinker Bowen Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllWritingArtistArtGivingGreat ArtGreat ArtistIfsMayThinkingTurnsBiographiesBitterEmptyFriendshipKindMenMistakeMusicNovelPeople

Famous Catherine Drinker Bowen Quotes

“One of the marks of true genius is a quality of abundance. A rich, rollicking abundance, enough to give indigestion to ordinary people. Great artists turn it out in rolls, in swatches. They cover whole ceilings with paintings, they chip out a mountainside in stone, they write not one novel but a shelf full. It follows that some of their work is better than other. As much as a third of it may be pretty bad. Shall we say this unevenness is the mark of their humanity - of their proud mortality as well as of their immortality?”

PeopleGivingWritingWellsMayEnoughWholeArtistHumanityTurnsQualityNovelRichTalentPaintingProudGeniusOrdinaryStonesThirdsMarkImmortalityAbundanceMortalityShelvesGreat ArtChipsOrdinary PeopleCeilingsGreat ArtistIndigestionTrue Genius
Book:The Nature of the Artist: An Address Delivered at the Dedication Ceremonies for Lee Pattison Recital Hall, Wilbur Hall, Mary Kimberly Residence Hall
Create image

“In early days, I tried not to give librarians any trouble, which was where I made my primary mistake. Librarians like to be given trouble; they exist for it, they are geared to it. For the location of a mislaid volume, an uncatalogued item, your good librarian has a ferret’s nose. Give her a scent and she jumps the leash, her eye bright with battle.”

GivingMadeEyeGivenMistakeTroubleBattleLibraryPrimariesNosesVolumeHer EyesScentLocationItemsLibrarianLeashesFerrets
Book:Adventures of a Biographer
Create image