Home / Quotes / Quote by Vivian Gornick

Quote by Vivian Gornick

“What happened to the writer is not what matters; what matters is the large sense that the writer is able to make of what happened.”

Quote by Vivian Gornick

Author

Vivian Gornick, born on June 14, 1935, is an American literary critic and writer known for her profound social insights and delicate portrayal of the female experience. more

You May Also Like

“The one thing a writer has to have is a pencil and some paper. That's enough, so long as she knows that she and she alone is in charge of that pencil, and responsible, she and she alone, for what it writes on that paper.”

Knows Writing Long Enough One Thing Paper Responsible Pencils

Book:Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places

Source: Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places

“To name the world in your own terms, to tell your own story, is an act of authority and power. When you write, you are saying, in effect, 'I have a voice. I have a story. This is what I have to say.'”

World Writing Stories Names Voice Term Effects Authority Authority And Power

Book:Write Your Heart Out

Source: Write Your Heart Out

“It's very important to write things down instantly, or you can lose the way you were thinking out a line. I have a rule that if I wake up at 3 in the morning and think of something, I write it down. I can't wait until morning - it'll be gone.”

Ifs Thinking Way Writing I Can Important Waiting Loses Lines Morning Gone Wake Up

Author:Mary Oliver

“Symbols give us our identity, our self image, our way of explaining ourselves to ourselves and to others. Symbols in turn determine the kinds of stories we tell, and the stories we tell determine the kind of history we make and remake.”

Way Giving Writing Kind Self Stories Turns Identity Determine Symbols Explaining Remakes

Book:Mary Robinson: A President With a Purpose

Source: Mary Robinson: A President With a Purpose

“We have to make myths of our lives, the point being that if we do, then every grief or inexplicable seizure by weather, woe, or work can-if we discipline ourselves and think hard enough-be turned to account, be made to yield further insight into what it is to be alive, to be a human being.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Humans Made Hard Enough Human Beings Grief Our Lives Alive Discipline Accounts Insight Myth Weather Yield Woe Inexplicable Seizures

Author:May Sarton

“I only wish I could write with both hands, so as not to forget one thing while I am saying another.”

Writing Hands Wish Forget One Thing

Book:Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila

Source: Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila

“When we commit ourselves to writing for some part of each day, we are happier, more enlightened, alive, light-hearted and generous to everyone else. Even our health improves.”

Writing Light Alive Commit Generous Each Day Enlightened Hearted Light Hearted

Author:Brenda Ueland

“Storytelling is at the heart of life... In finding our own story, we assemble all the parts of ourselves. Whatever kind of mess we have made of it, we can somehow see the totality of who we are and recognize how our blunderings are related. We can own what we did and value who we are, not because of the outcome but because of the soul story that propelled us.”

Writing Heart Kind Made Soul Stories Values Findings Storytelling Mess Outcomes Related Who We Are Totality

Author:Marion Woodman

“Research suggests that exposure to the natural world - including nearby nature in cities - helps improve human health, well-being, and intellectual capacity in ways that science is only recently beginning to understand.”

World Way Humans Wells Helping Nature Natural Cities Intellectual Research Capacity Environmental Including Well Being Exposure Natural World Human Health

Author:Richard Louv

“Increasingly the evidence suggests that people benefit so much from contact with nature that land conservation can now be viewed as a public health strategy.”

People Nature Land Benefits Evidence Strategy Environmental Contact Conservation Public Health Land Conservation

Author:Richard Louv