“Believe me, I love commerce as much as the rest of the readers of 'Businessweek.' But in art, you have to be true to yourself and your musical vision. People have known me well for a long time, so if I was chasing a trend and doing something that wasn't authentic to who I am, they would know it in just a few seconds.” PeopleIfsKnowsBelieveWellsLongArtKnownVisionReaderLong TimeMusicalWho I AmBeing TrueTrendsSecondsBelieve In MeCommerceChasingBe True To YourselfTrue To YourselfE Commerce Author:Lionel Richie
“The Novelist As Teacher”: “I would be quite satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their past – with all its imperfections – was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them.” IfsFirstsLongWould BePastNightActingTeachNovelTeacherReaderSatisfiedNovelistsImperfectionBehalfSavageryLong Nights Book:Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism Source: Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism
“My theory about writing is that one should write books you'd like to read, but no one else has written yet. So, as long as I stick with that, I'm entertaining myself, and then hopefully my readers as well. I hope to god I realize that I'm repeating myself, if I ever do. But if I don't, I'm sure my readers will let me know.” IfsKnowsShouldWritingWellsLongBookRealizingWrittenTheoryReaderLet MeSticksHopefullyEntertaining Author:Charles de Lint
“Ironically, Henry James' biography comforts me & I long to make known to him his posthumous reputation he wrote, in pain, gave all his life (which is more than I could think of doing I have Ted, will have children but few friends) & the critics insulted & mocked him, readers didn't read him.” ThinkingChildrenLongPainKnownReaderComfortCriticsReputationBiographiesInsultedFew FriendsPosthumous Book:The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
“I think Miss Moore was right to cut "The Steeple-Jack" - the poem seems plainer and clearer in its shortened state but she has cut too much... The reader may feel like saying, "Let her do as she pleases with the poem; it's hers, isn't it?" No; it's much too good a poem for that, it long ago became everybody's, and we can protest just as we could if Donatello cut off David's left leg.” IfsThinkingFeelsMayLongStatesSeemsLeftToo MuchCuttingMissingReaderPleaseLegsProtestLong AgoSteeplesDonatello Author:Randall Jarrell
“My books are based on the "what if" principle. "What if you became invisible?" or "What if you did change into your mother for one day?" I then take it from there. Each book takes several months in the long process of writing, rewriting, writing, rewriting, and each has its own set of problems. The one thing I dislike about the writing process is the sometimes-loneliness of it all. Readers only get to see the glamour part of a bound book, not some of the agonizing moments one has while constructing it.” IfsWritingLongBookSometimesMomentsProblemMotherProcessPrinciplesOne ThingLonelinessMonthsReaderOne DayBoundsInvisibleWhat IfDislikeWriting ProcessGlamourRewritingAgonizing Author:Mary Rodgers
“Looking back on the long-stretched-out body of one's work, it is interesting to mark the endless duel fought within a man between the emotional and critical sides of his nature, first one, then the other, getting the upper hand, and too seldom fusing till the result has the mellowness of full achievement. One can even tell the nature of one's readers, by their preference for the work which reveals more of this side than of that.” MenFirstsLongBodyHandsSidesInterestingResultsEmotionalReaderAchievementMarkCriticalEndlessWorking ItLooking BackPreferenceUpper Hand Author:John Galsworthy
“When modernist poetry, or what not so long ago passed for modernist poetry, can reach the stage where the following piece by Mr. Ezra Pound is seriously offered as a poem, there is some justification for the plain reader and orthodox critic who shrinks from anything that may be labelled 'modernist' either in terms of condemnation or approbation. Better he thinks, that ten authentic poets should be left for posterity to discover than one charlatan should be allowed to steal into the Temple of Fame.” ThinkingShouldMayLongLeftTermPiecesStagePoetReaderFameTenCriticsFollowingStealingTemplesPoundsOrthodoxJustificationLong AgoShrinksPosterityCondemnationCharlatans Author:Laura Riding