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Posted: |
Feb 24, 2012 - 9:57 PM
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By: |
JSWalsh
(Member)
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I used this on another thread, but I so enjoy reading the interesting thoughts of great writers and artists on the creative process, the meaning of art, and all that good stuff.
I know we have other threads of quotations, but I wanted on that the musicians, writers and artists here might find inspiring. I'm not just posting anything about the arts, but quotes that made me think about the practical writing work I was doing.
I'm going to keep my posts to five quotes each, for easier reading.
To interest is the first duty of art; no other excellences will even begin to compensate for failure in this and very serious faults will be covered by this, as by charity. - C.S. Lewis
A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket. ~Charles Peguy
And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath
If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~Toni Morrison
The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium. ~Norbet Platt
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Posted: |
Feb 26, 2012 - 7:12 PM
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By: |
Heath
(Member)
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"Know what art is? A row of blackened, frosted cabbages covered in horse shit and flies. That's what art is! Well, that's what my art is... I know because I just sold one for twenty-eight grand." - JOHN LEWIS SAINSBURY
"I am an actor. We con people for a living by offering the absolute truth sandwiched between two slices of seductive bullshit, and, like most victims of con men, our audience is in on it." - WILLIAM WAITROSE.
"Taking someone's photograph is like taking someone's life. It is a ruthless, selfish act, and it cannot be undone. However, I can offer the negatives for a reasonable price." - W.H. SMITH
"Writing novels is about guarding and giving voice to all human truths by means of betraying every poor bastard you ever met and giving them phoney names. A lot of writers drink, you know." - TESCO SOMERFIELD
"I've been in this business for a long time. I've seen people come and go. I get asked: What's the difference between good music and bad music? and I tell them: Get your audience right. Tea and coffee are great, but you don't serve coffee to a guy who ordered tea... and you sure as hell don't give him eggnog." - DANNY "MR PANPOT" ASDA
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I've seen this one attributed to Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber and William F. Buckley.
"I hate writing. I love having written."
I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment, but find it irritating that it could be attributed to (at least) three such different writers. How can we verify this quote's authorship, anyone?
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Wasting time is better spent getting on with it, before it's too late. - Wayne Tully
This reminds me of a dream I had, where Orson Welles said to me, 'Never mind what the critics say about Citizen Kane; true creativity is simply a matter of getting on with it.'
Does that count? I mean he COULD have said it.
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That's just how it was, Jimbo. 'He' said it to me. If I left that bit out it'd be a lie.
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There's a letter from Raymond Chandler, he's talking about writing, but he could be talking about any creative art. The last sentence is a killer:
...My experience with trying to help people to write has been limited but extremely intensive. I have done everything from giving would-be writers money to live on to plotting & re-writing their stories for them, & so far have found it to be all waste. The people whom God or nature intended to be writers find their own answers, & those who have to ask are impossible to help. They are merely people who want to be writers.
Thats sniper's-bullet accurate in my lifetime. Raymond must have met the same people as me. 
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