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Good novels
are not written by orthodoxy-sniffers, nor by people who are
conscience-stricken about their own orthodoxy. Good novels
are written by people who are not frightened.
-- George Orwell
1903-1950, British Author,
''Animal Farm''
He is a man of
thirty-five, but looks fifty. He is bald, has varicose veins
and wears spectacles, or would wear them if his only pair
were not chronically lost. If things are normal with him, he
will be suffering from malnutrition, but if he has recently
had a lucky streak, he will be suffering from a hangover. At
present it is half past eleven in the morning, and according
to his schedule he should have started work two hours ago;
but even if he had made any serious effort to start he would
have been frustrated by the almost continuous ringing of the
telephone bell, the yells of the baby, the rattle of an
electric drill out in the street, and the heavy boots of his
creditors clumping up the stairs. The most recent
interruption was the arrival of the second post, which
brought him two circulars and an income tax demand printed
in red. Needless to say this person is a writer.
-- George Orwell
1903-1950, British Author,
''Animal Farm''
All writers
are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their
motives lies a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting
struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One
would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven by
some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.
-- George Orwell
1903-1950, British Author,
''Animal Farm''
One reason
writers write is out of revenge. Life hurts; certain ideas
and experiences hurt; one wants to clarify, to set out
illuminations, to replay the old bad scenes and get the
Treppenworte said -- the words one didn't have the strength
or ripeness to say when those words were necessary for one's
dignity or survival.
-- Cynthia Ozick
1928-, American Novelist,
short-story Writer
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If you're
going to write, don't pretend to write down. It's going to
be the best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best
you can do that kills you.
-- Dorothy Parker
1893-1967, American Humorous
Writer
If I had more
time I would write a shorter letter.
-- Blaise Pascal
1623-1662, French Scientist,
Religious Philosopher
The last thing
we decide in writing a book is what to put first.
-- Blaise Pascal
1623-1662, French Scientist,
Religious Philosopher
Writers, you
know, are the beggars of Western society.
-- Octavio Paz
1914-, Mexican Poet, Essayist
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