Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Richard Bausch

Quote by Richard Bausch

“To my mind, nothing is as important as good writing, because in literature, the walls between people and cultures are broken down, and the things that plague us most—suspicion and fear of the other, and the tendency to see whole groups of people as objects, as monoliths of one cultural stereotype or another—are defeated. This work is not done as a job, ladies and gentlemen, it is done out of love for the art and the artists who brought it forth, and who still bring it forth to us, down the years and across ignorance and chaos and borderlines.”

Quote by Richard Bausch

Author

Richard Bausch
Richard Bausch

Richard Bausch (born April 18, 1945) is an acclaimed American novelist, short story writer, and poet. Known for his psychological depth and emotional insight, his work often explores themes of family, love, loss, and redemption. He has published over a dozen novels and hundreds of short stories, earning numerous awards including the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. His stories have been widely anthologized in Best American Short Stories and other collections. Bausch taught creative writing at George Mason University for many years, influencing a generation of writers. more

You May Also Like

“I don't teach writing. I teach patience. Toughness. Stubbornness. The willingness to fail. I teach the life. The odd thing is most of the things that stop an inexperienced writer are so far from the truth as to be nearly beside the point. When you feel glosbal doubt about your talent, that is your talent. People who have no talent don't have any doubt.”

“From the clayey soil of northern Wyoming is mined bentonite, which is used as filler in candy, gum, and lipstick. We Americans are great on fillers, as if what we have, what we are, is not enough. We have a cultural tendency toward denial, but being affluent, we strangle ourselves with what we can buy. We gave only to look at the houses we build to see how we build *against* space, the way we drink against pain and loneliness. We fill up space as if it were a pie shell, with things whose opacity further obstructs our ability to see what is already there.”