Home / Quotes / Quote by Nadine Gordimer

Quote by Nadine Gordimer

“The creative act is not pure. History evidences it. Sociology extracts it. The writer loses Eden, writes to be read and comes to realize that he is answerable.”

Quote by Nadine Gordimer

Author

Nadine Gordimer

Nadine Gordimer was a South African writer renowned for her profound social commentary and literary achievements. Her works often delve into issues of apartheid, class differences, and gender, winning numerous literary awards, including the Nobel Prize in Literature. more

You May Also Like

“If one of two lovers is loyal, and the other jealous and false, how may their friendship last, for Love is slain!”

Ifs Love May Two Lasts Love Is Lovers Loyalty Jealous Loyal Fake People Two Lovers

Book:Medieval Lays and Legends of Marie de France

Source: Medieval Lays and Legends of Marie de France

“Would-be novelists need to bring equal parts arrogance and ignorance to the task before them. The arrogance is almost self-explanatory. Walk into any bookstore or library, calculate how many lifetimes the average person would need to read all the fiction contained therein. To think that one has anything to contribute, to any genre or tradition, takes genuine hubris.”

Thinking Needs Writing Persons Self Would Be Walks Fiction Ignorance Equal Tradition Tasks Lifetime Library Average Genuine Genre Novelists Arrogance Bookstores Average Person Hubris

Author:Laura Lippman

“It's not that you get a cliché and then wiggle it about or use synonyms. You don't take an ordinary decorative paragraph and give it style. What you're trying to do is be faithful to your perceptions and transmit them as faithfully as you can. I say these sentences until they sound right. There's no objective reason why they're right. They just sound right to me.”

Giving Writing Trying Reason Use Sound Style Perception Ordinary Sentences Objectives Reason Why Faithful Paragraph Transmit Being Faithful Synonym

Author:Martin Amis

“I unplug the phone and close the door and just stick with it. I don't ever go out for lunch and I don't take vacations. I like to be awake when no one else is: either just before dawn in the morning or late, late at night. Silence helps.”

Writing Helping Night Silence Morning Doors Late Sticks Phones Dawn Awake Lunch Vacation

Author:Mona Simpson

“All the fantasy writers I know have a way of dwelling on their own fears and phobias. A writer spends his life being his own psychiatrist.”

Knows Way Writing Fantasy Dwelling Psychiatrist Phobia

Author:Charles Beaumont

“Nobody asks you to do this. The world out there is not panting after another novelist. We choose it”

World Writing Asks Novelists

Author:Paul Auster

“You don't realize what a strain it is on the nerves to write or think-of-writing all day long, and to sleep full of nervous dreams, and to wake up not knowing who one is: this all stems from anxiety about finishing the book, about time 'growing short', etc., and the perpetual strain of invention.”

Source: Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac, 1947-1954

“Do not beat up on yourself. Do not criticize your writing as lousy, inadequate, stupid, or any of the evil epithets that you are used to heaping on yourself. Such self-bashing is never useful. If you indulge in it, your writing doesn't stand a chance. So when your mind turns on you, turn it back, stamp it down, shut it up, and keep writing.”

Ifs Writing Mind Self Used Turns Evil Chance Stupid Beats Criticize Stamps Indulge Inadequate Indulge In Epithet

Author:Gail Carson Levine

“If you look at the world one way, it takes from you - it's a thief of time, energy, creative mojo. But if you look at the world another way, it gives you an endless supply of motivation.”

Ifs World Way Giving Writing Looks Motivation Energy Creative Endless One Way Thieves Another Way Mojo

Author:Julianna Baggott

“I wish you good writing and good luck. Even if you've already done the good writing, you'll still need the good luck. It's a shark-filled lagoon out there. Cross your fingers and watch your back.”

Ifs Needs Writing Stills Done Wish Watches Crosses Luck Filled Fingers Good Luck Wish You Sharks Good Writing Lagoons

Author:Margaret Atwood