“Every decade of my life I attempted to write a novel. But I had nothing to say. I was far too self-absorbed, and now I realize I was writing for others, so that they'd applaud me, see my genius, tell me how wonderful I am, or be jealous of my success.” WritingSelfRealizingNovelWonderfulGeniusDecadesJealousSelf AbsorbedBeing Jealous Author:Louise Penny
“Buffon said unreservedly, "Genius is simply patience carried to the extreme." To those who asked how he achieved fame he replied: "By spending forty years of my life bent over my writing desk."” WritingYearsSaidScienceGeniusFameExtremesSpendingFortyDesksBentBuffon Book:Advice for a Young Investigator Source: Advice for a Young Investigator
“Good taste cannot supply the place of genius in literature, for the best proof of taste, when there is no genius, would be, not to write at all.” WritingWould BeLiteratureGeniusTasteProofGood Taste Author:Madame de Stael
“The critic lives at second hand. He writes about. The poem, the novel, or the play must be given to him; criticism exists by the grace of other men's genius.” MenWritingPlayHandsGivenNovelGraceGeniusCriticismCriticsSecond Hand Book:Language and Silence Source: Language and Silence
“I am through generalizing about ideas apart from men who generate them. I am through writing books about the dead, or writing books about the living to the unborn (tucked away as Literature) or writing books about the unborn to the living (whiffed away as prophecy). I put up my life on advertising the living to the living, on making men of genius known to the people and interpreted to their time, that the time in which I live, may live face to face with its men of vision and that they may live face to face with one another.” PeopleMenWritingMayBookIdeasFacesLiteratureKnownVisionGeniusAdvertisingProphecyFace To FaceWriting A BookLiving OnUnborn Book:The House of Twenty Seven Gardens Source: The House of Twenty Seven Gardens
“Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others; but of the three, the only quite trustworthy one is the last. The acts of a nation may be triumphant by its good fortune; and its words mighty by the genius of a few of its children: but its art, only by the general gifts and common sympathies of the race.” WritingMayChildrenArtTwoBookLastsThreeNationsCommonRaceGeniusUnderstoodFortuneDeedsAutobiographyGood FortuneTrustworthyManuscriptsTriumphantGreat Nations Author:John Ruskin