Quotessence
Home / Authors / Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Strayed

Cheryl Strayed Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsPeopleWayWritingThinkingKnowsCheryl StrayedHardMotherAdviceGivingFeelsTiny Beautiful ThingsBelieveInspirationalLifeLoveFeltMadeDear Sugar

Famous Cheryl Strayed Quotes

“I hope when people ask what you're going to do with your English degree and/or creative writing degree you'll say: Continue my bookish examination of the contradictions and complexities of human motivation and desire; or maybe just: Carry it with me, as I do everything that matters. And then smile very serenely until they say, Oh.”

PeopleWritingHumansMatterDesireMotivationAsksCreativeDegreesComplexityContradictionCreative WritingExaminationComplexity Of Human
Book:Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Someone Who’s Been There
Create image

“I think the first thing - if you want to be a writer - the first thing you need to do is write. Which sounds like an obvious piece of advice. But so many people have this feeling they want to be a writer and they love to read but they don't actually write very much. The main part of being a writer, though, is being profoundly alone for hours on end, uninterrupted by email or friends or children or romantic partners and really sinking into the work and writing. That's how I write. That's how writing gets done.”

PeopleThinkingWritingChildrenDoneFeelingsHoursAdviceObviousLove To Read
Author:Cheryl Strayed
Create image

“Writing can be such a lonely endeavor that I do think community is also important.Meeting at cafes and exchanging work and reading to each other and giving each other little bits of encouragement and feedback and thoughts, I think that's an incredibly rich experience because what it does is it gives you a sense of community but also purpose. If I know I'm going to meet you in a cafe next Tuesday, I'm going to write something that I can hand to you. Discipline is such a challenge for so many writers and so I think that that's a key benefit of being in a group.”

ThinkingGivingWritingImportantPurposeReadingCommunityChallengesRichDisciplineLonelyEncouragementMeetingsFeedbackTuesday
Author:Cheryl Strayed
Create image

“Don't lament so much about how your career is going to turn out. You don't have a career. You have a life. Do the work. Keep the faith. Be true blue. You are a writer because you write. Keep writing and quit your bitching. Your book has a birthday. You don't know what it is yet.”

KnowsWritingBookTurnsCareersBlueQuittingBeing TrueLamentKeep The Faith
Book:Brave Enough: A Mini Instruction Manual for the Soul
Create image

“Of course you want someone special to love you. A majority of the people who write to me inquire about how they can get the same thing... Unique as every letter is, the point each writer reaches is the same: I want love and I'm afraid I'll never get it. It's hard to answer those letters because I'm an advice columnist, not a fortune-teller. I have words instead of a crystal ball. I can't say when you'll get love or how you'll find it or even promise that you will. I can only say you are worthy of it and that it's never too much to ask for it.”

PeopleWantWritingI CanHardCoursesAsksAnswersToo MuchSpecialAdviceLove YouPromiseUniqueLettersBallsMajorityFortuneWorthyCrystalsColumnistsCrystal BallSpecial SomeoneFortune Teller
Author:Cheryl Strayed
Create image

“The useless days will add up to something. The shitty waitressing jobs. The hours writing in your journal. The long meandering walks. The hours reading poetry and story collections and novels and dead people’s diaries and wondering about sex and God and whether you should shave under your arms or not. These things are your becoming.”

PeopleShouldWritingLongStoriesJobsReadingSexHoursWalksWonderNovelArmsBecomingAddUselessCollectionsBeautiful ThingsJournalDiariesDead PeopleReading PoetryTiny Things
Book:Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Someone Who’s Been There
Create image

“Writing is hard for every last one of us—straight white men included. Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig.”

ThinkingMenWritingHardLastsWhiteTalkingMinesHarderCoalWhite ManMiningMinersCoal Mining
Book:Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Someone Who’s Been There
Create image

“And if you're gonna be a writer, you just truly have to be a writer. You have to throw yourself into it and deal with the negative consequences of that. And there are negative consequences. I mean, there are. But, it's also true that you wouldn't be interviewing me right now if I had worked at the post office. You wouldn't. I would be still writing, but I wouldn't have gotten as far as I've gotten, because I wouldn't have had the time.”

IfsWritingMeanStillsWould BeDealsRight NowOfficeConsequenceNegativePostsPost OfficeNegative Consequences
Author:Cheryl Strayed
Create image