1.
“Did you ever consider not becoming a writer?
Of course, though mostly out of practicality or anxiety, or a combination of both, rather than out of any real desire to do something else.”
— Nicole Krauss, from The New Yorker’s 20 Under 40
2.
“The trouble with Jim was he looked at the world and could not look away. And when you never look away all your life, by the time you are thirteen you have done twenty years taking in the laundry of the world.”
— Ray Bradbury, from Something Wicked This Way Comes
3.
Truman Capote Reads from Breakfast at Tiffany’s
“In 1958, Truman Capote put his stamp on the American literary scene when he published his short novel, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, in the pages of Esquire magazine. Authors and critics were quick to recognize what Capote had accomplished here. The always opinionated Norman Mailer would say that Capote ‘is the most perfect writer of my generation, he writes the best sentences word for word, rhythm upon rhythm. I would not have changed two words in Breakfast at Tiffany’s which will become a small classic.’”
4.
“Write in recollection and amazement for yourself.”
— Jack Kerouac, from Beliefs and Techniques for Modern Prose, as compiled by Al Filreis
5.
“I am learning to get along alone. There’s always the universe. A woman doesn’t have to marry, and there are perfectly good reasons why people should be lonely.”
— Saul Bellow, from Henderson the Rain King
6.
“She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.”
— Analogies and Metaphors Found in High School Essays
7.
“Love demands expression. It will not stay still, stay silent, be good, be modest, be seen and not heard, no. It will break out in tongues of praise, the high note that smashes the glass and spills the liquid. It is no conservationist love. It is a big game hunter and you are the game. A curse on this game. How can you stick at a game when the rules keep changing?”
“It’s the cliches that cause the trouble. A precise emotion seeks a precise expression. If what I feel is not precise then should I call it love?”
“I want the diluted version, the sloppy language, the insignificant gestures. The saggy armchair of cliches. They did it, my parents did it, now I will do it won’t I, arms outstretched, not to hold you, just to keep my balance, sleepwalking to that armchair. How happy we will be. How happy everyone will be. And they all lived happily ever after.”
— Jeannette Winterson, from Written on the Body