Quotations about Writing

[Jailbird]

1. "Writing is nothing more than a guided dream" J.L.Borges
2. "Writing is easy; all you do is sit & stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forhead" Gene Fowler
3. "First I write one sentence: then I write another. That`s how I write. And so I go on. But I have a feeling writing ought to be like running through a field" L. Strachey
4. "There`re 3 rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are" William Somerset Maugham
5. "All good writing is swimming under water & holding your breath" Francis Scott Fitzgerald
6. "Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo" Don Marquis
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Your Jailbird

[Mosteque]

nice:)
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obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit

[Jailbird]

I like the 4th one by Maugam most of all!!!
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Your Jailbird

[Jamila]

the 4ht one is funny one :D

[Sunny]

[Carbonarius]

I like the 6th one best. But it's difficult for me to explain it, as I'm not a poet. I think that poetry manages to explain things where others fail: nothing that I write can explain the sentence that Don Marquis wrote better than the sentence itself (buy the way, who is this man?) But I'll try it.

First, imagine how hard it is to do what the sentence says: you know that you'll never manage to hear the sound of a rose petal echoing, but still you try it. Isn't it saying that poetry needs hard working? You are fighting against every rule, every obstacle, even the ones in nature.

It also refers to those things in reality that hid from every days perception. We see cars, we see trees, but there are so many things that we don perceive... and poetry, poets, show them to us. The echo of a rose petal? That's a marvellous idea, a hidden fact in reality that is brought to light by this poet.

I read the sentence again, and I realise that I'm imagining the petal as if it were alive. That's another hidden fact in reality. Well, I'm not saying that 'things' have life, but it's beautiful to think so.

Has anyone felt anything similar reading that sentence? I'd love to hear their opinion.

[Jailbird]

That`s really a very beautiful explanation!!! I should even the most beautiful one! I just remember my friend talking on this topic. I don`t remember exactly what she meant, but still I remember that she compared the rose with the poetry itself and the echo with the feeling it stirs. I liked her comparisson! )) But yours is very nice too)))
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Your Jailbird