Quotes

Sometimes when I’m feeling more disillusioned with poetry as a whole (usually thanks to relatives who tell me that I’ll go nowhere with a degree in creative writing) I look through a collection of quotes about writing that I keep on hand. Recently I’ve been coming down with something (like just about everyone on campus) and haven’t been able to find words as easily as I’d like, so here are a few of my favorite quotes about poetry and writing in hopes that they help you guys through the usual fall colds/viruses:

“A writer is a world trapped in a person.” – Victor Hugo

“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.” – Dylan Thomas

“A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.” – Franz Kafka

“Writers end up writing about their obsessions. Things that haunt them; things they can’t forget; stories they carry in their bodies waiting to be released.” – Natalie Goldberg

“Poetry is truth in its Sunday clothes.” – Joseph Roux

“I write only because there is a voice within me that will not be still.” – Sylvia Plath

“The paradox of the arts is that they are all made up and yet they allow us to at truths about who and what we are or might be.” – Seamus Heaney

I’d love to hear some of all of your favorite quotes about writing in the comments!

(Disclaimer: I admit most of these were found on tumblr, so I apologize if any turn out to be misquoted!)

 

One Reply to “Quotes”

  1. Props to you for providing me with a good Facebook status this morning with that Hugo quote. I had never seen it before!

    It’s important to remind ourselves the value of our work in a world that often diminishes it. Thanks for this post!

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