Writers, I think, are sometimes productive to the extent that they remain sort of childlike about certain things. They stay operative for that reason.
~ Conversations with Jim Harrison
Viktor Frankl on Decisions
“…in the final analysis, it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone.”
~ Viktor Frankl / Psychology Today
William Giraldi on Writing
“I don’t enjoy writing. I enjoy reading.”
~ William Giraldi / Courtesy Austin Kleon
Jiddu Krishnamurti on Difficulties
“I don’t mind what happens.”
Steven Pinker on Truth
“Humans can believe things for two reasons: because they have grounds for thinking they’re true, or to affirm a myth that unites and emboldens the tribe,”
~ Steven Pinker / Quoted in the NYT, December 16th, 2020
John Waters on Wealth
I’m rich! I don’t mean money-wise. I mean that I have figured out how to never be around assholes at any time in my personal and professional life. That’s rich.
~ John Waters
John le Carré on Social Media
“People are shown so many treats, and urged as to what to buy and what to wear and where to travel to, all of which pumps up a spurious notion of the perfect life.”
~ John le Carré / Guardian
Donald Hall on Foolishness
“When I was nineteen,
I told a thirty-
year-old man what a
fool I had been when
I was seventeen.
‘We were always,’ he
said glancing down, ‘a
fool two years ago.”
~ Donald Hall
Kurt Vonnegut on Life
In Hamlet, Shakespeare tells us, we don’t know enough about life to know what the good news is and the bad news is…
~ Kurt Vonnegut / YouTube
Alan Jacobs on Iniquity
Thus St. Paul speaks of “the mystery of iniquity”—what in our more prosaic and insensible times we tend to call “the problem of evil.” In Paul’s view, to call iniquity a “problem” is to trivialize it beyond recognition. For one who believes not only in God but in the goodness and graciousness of God, iniquity is the profoundest of mysteries. One scarcely dares to speak of it at all, and nothing is more desperately to be avoided, on this subject, than glibness.
~ Alan Jacobs / The Point Magazine
Lynda Barry on Money
The key to eternal happiness is low overhead and no debt.
~ Lynda Barry / Courtesy Austin Kleon
Roger Ebert on Kindness
“To make others less happy is a crime.”
~ Roger Ebert / Courtesy Austin Kleon
Philip Larkin on Kindness
…we should be careful
Of each other, we should be kind
While there is still time.
~ Philip Larkin / The Mower
Brendan Behan on Kindness
“I respect kindness in human beings first of all, and kindness to animals. I don’t respect the law…”
~ Brendan Behan / Courtesy Austin Kleon
Laurie Anderson on Art
The world may end. You’re right. But that’s not a reason to be scared. None of us know what will happen. Don’t spend time worrying about it. Make the most beautiful thing you can. Try to do that every day. That’s it. You know? What are you working for, posterity? We don’t know if there is any posterity.
~ Laurie Anderson
Naguib Mahfouz on Home
Home is not where you are born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease.
~ Naguib Mahfouz
Andy Warhol on Wanting Things
As soon as you stop wanting something you get it.
~ Andy Warhol
Cliff Crozier on Reconnaissance
Time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted.
Cliff Crozier / YouTube
Suzanne Brøgger on Adversity
I welcome adversity and indifference. Of course, it’s stupid if someone has chosen to disregard you because of something you’ve written but that’s their problem.
Suzanne Brøgger / Louisiana Channel
Leonard Lauder on Singles and Doubles
I love singles and doubles. I don’t necessarily think home runs are what they need all the time.
~ Leonard Lauder / NYT, November 26th 2020
Alec Soth on Art
“Waste more time.”
~ Alec Soth / LBM Newsletter, November 27th 2020
Jim Harrison on the Difficulties of Drawing Attention to Poetry
“…you would have to immolate a volunteer poet in a 751 BMW”
~ Jim Harrison / Wikipedia
Jim Harrison on Reputation
…I’m not interested in any reputation that has to be sought.
~ Jim Harrison / Paris Review
Jim Harrison on Interestingness
Am I supposed to think that Ronald Reagan is as interesting as Crazy Horse, when he’s not?
~ Jim Harrison / Paris Review
Jim Harrison on Salvation
For my purposes, I believe what Kierkegaard said, that you have to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before you can get on with anyone else’s program.
~ Jim Harrison / Paris Review
Jim Harrison on Greed
They don’t know what happened to the hundred civilizations represented by the American Indian. That’s shocking. I’m dealing with that in this book. To me, the Indians are our curse on the house of Atreus. They’re our doom. The way we killed them is also what’s killing us now. Greed. Greed. It’s totally an Old Testament notion but absolutely true. Greed is killing the soul-life of the nation. You can see it all around you. It’s destroying what’s left of our physical beauty, it’s polluting the country, it’s making us more Germanic and warlike and stupid.
~ Jim Harrison / Paris Review
Jim Harrison on Technique
Finally, what Wallace Stevens said, which I love and which is hard to explain to younger writers, is that technique is the proof of your seriousness.
~ Jim Harrison / Paris Review
Harvey Fierstein on Persisting
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.
~ Harvey Fierstein
Philip Larkin on Fulfillment
“Fulfillment’s desolate attic…”
~ Philip Larkin / Courtesy Jennifer Senior, NYT
The Editorial Board on Lies
Lies have a long half-life…
~ The Editorial Board / NYT, 19th November 2020
Ethan Hawke on Getting What You Want
People think getting what you want will make you happy, but a sense of self, purpose and love don’t come from the outside.
~ Ethan Hawke / Guardian
Michael J. Fox on Optimism
“Optimism is informed hope”
~ Michael J. Fox / NYT