“The impulse to perfection cannot exist where the definition of perfection is the arbitrary decision of authority. That which is born in loneliness and from the heart cannot be defended against the judgment of a committee of sycophants. The volatile essences which make literature cannot survive the clichés of a long series of story conferences.” HeartLongStoriesLiteratureBornDecisionLonelinessAuthorityJudgmentPerfectionEssenceSeriesDefinitionsImpulseCommitteesConferencesArbitrarySycophants Book:Raymond Chandler Speaking Source: Raymond Chandler Speaking
“With a novel, which takes perhaps years to write, the author is not the same man he was at the end of the book as he was at the beginning. It is not only that his characters have developed-he has developed with them, and this nearly always gives a sense of roughness to the work: a novel can seldom have the sense of perfection which you find in Chekhov's story, The Lady with the Dog.” MenGivingWritingYearsBookEndsCharacterStoriesNovelDogPerfectionInsightfulShort StoryChekhovRoughnessWriting Short Stories Book:Collected Stories Source: Collected Stories
“Novels are more difficult simply because they are longer and require more juggling, but short stories are closer to perfection, if you can get the language right.” IfsStoriesLanguageDifficultNovelPerfectionShort StoryJuggling Author:Colum McCann
“The fact of storytelling hints at a fundamental human unease, hints at human imperfection. Where there is perfection there is no story to tell.” HumansFactsStoriesPerfectionFundamentalsStorytellingImperfectionHintsPerfection And ImperfectionHuman Imperfection Author:Ben Okri
“The perfection of our union, especially our commitment to equality of opportunity, has been a story of constant striving to live up to our Founding principles. This is what Abraham Lincoln meant when he said, 'In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve.'” GivingHas BeensSaidStoriesOpportunityPrinciplesCommitmentPerfectionConstantUnionsSlaveStrivePreservesHonorableFoundingAbrahamEquality Of Opportunity Author:Paul Ryan
“We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic 'progress' leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil.” MenMayStatesPhilosophyStoriesLightFallEvilProgressBecomingEternalPerfectionErrorsCreatorMythIronCrownsAspireAbyssFragmentsInventingWovenMaterialisticSteersMisguidedHarbourYawningInventing Stories Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
“Here's what I want from a book, what I demand, what I pray for when I take up a novel and begin to read the first sentence: I want everything and nothing less, the full measure of a writer's heart. I want a novel so poetic that I do not have to turn to the standby anthologies of poetry to satisfy that itch for music, for perfection and economy of phrasing, for exactness of tone. Then, too, I want a book so filled with story and character that I read page after page without thinking of food or drink because a writer has possessed me, crazed with an unappeasable thirst to know what happens next.” ThinkingKnowsWantFirstsHeartBookCharacterStoriesHappensTurnsNextNovelEconomyPrayingDrinkDemandPagesPerfectionFilledSentencesTonePoeticPossessedThirstI PrayAnthologyExactness Author:Pat Conroy
“Without an uninvestigated story, there's only the perfection of life appearing as itself. You can always go inside and find the beauty that's revealed after the pain and fear are understood.” InspirationalStoriesPainFearPerfectUnderstoodPerfectionAppearing Author:Byron Katie