If you know what you are going to write when you're writing a poem, it's going to be average

If you know what you are going to write when you're writing a poem, it's going to be average

Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else.

Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else.

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean

Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.

Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.

A great value of antiquity lies in the fact that its writings are the only ones that modern men still read more

A great value of antiquity lies in the fact that its writings are the only ones that modern men still read with exactness.

I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.

I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.

The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock - shock is a worn-out word - but read more

The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock - shock is a worn-out word - but astonish.

Don't get it right, just get it written

Don't get it right, just get it written

Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all read more

Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals.