Saturday, August 28, 2010

Writing Quotes helps you to be good to yourself

The first quote I thought was written by somebody else, but Walter "Red" Smith apparently was the first person to have it directly attributed to him-



"There's nothing to writing. All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."

- Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith


"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."

- Ray Bradbury


"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than write for the public and have no self."

- Cyril Connolly

"I have made this letter longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter."

- Blaise Pascal


The above quotes came from The Creative Screenwriting Weekly Newsletter.


"The work never matches the dream of perfection the artist has to start with."

- William Faulkner

12 comments:

David Barber said...

Yet again you come up with some great quotes.

Blaise Pascal's I liked a lot. Sounds like me when I don't spend any time editing!

Enjoy your weekend, mate.

Randal Graves said...

That last one is why I often stop reading Ray's after the fourth word.

Is it me, or does the guy hiding behind the typewriter look suspiciously like Spiro?

Katherine Tomlinson said...

One of my favorite ways of avoiding writing myself is reading what other writers have to say about writing. Thank you for enabling me.

Cormac Brown said...

David,

The whole editing thing especially goes out the window for flash fiction, right? You have a good weekend, too.

Randal,

Damn, you're right, that is ol' Agnew. With practice, you can hopefully arrive at perfection.

KATHERINE!

You're welcome and always welcome here!

Laura said...

Love Faulkners quote.
I always have the perfect post in my head. Somehow, it's never as good once I'm finished writing it out as it was in my noggin. :)
So .. I usually end up adding pictures of "ME" to make it "perfect". ;p
*I kid, I kid*!!!!

((Hugs))
Laura

Franklin Beaumont said...

That Blaise Pascal quote says it all for me. The amount of time I've spent cutting things down to size must outstrip the amount of time I've spent writing in the first place.

Cormac Brown said...

Laura,

Well, they certainly brighten the posts...and, I can't quote the only other Triumph quotes that I know. Partly, because they don't apply, and mostly because you'll kill me.

Franklin,

Welcome. Yes, the Devil is in the details, and the rewrites.

MRMacrum said...

The problem I have is finding a vein to open.

Great quotes.

SkylersDad said...

Great stuff!

Cormac Brown said...

MRM,

William S. Burroughs used to complain about the same thing, though obviously the context was different.

Sky Dad,

Glad you dug, and I hope that everyone is situated after the trip.

okjimm said...

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."

Ben Franklin

I'm at the 'Do Something' part.

Cormac Brown said...

Jimm,

Oh, good quote! Judging from your offspring being as good, smart and creative as they are, you did a more than fine job.