Writing
The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. -Henry Miller
It has become a necessity for me to write down my early memories. If I neglect to do so for a single day, unpleasant physical symptoms immediately follow. As soon as I set to work they vanish and my head feels perfectly clear.... Something within me has been touched. A gradient has formed, and I must write. -Carl Jung, from Memories, Dreams, and Reflections
You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. -Franz Kafka
I don't teach writing. I teach patience. Toughness. Stubbornness. The willingness to fail. I teach life. The odd thing is most of the things that stop an inexperienced writer are so far from the truth as to be nearly beside the point. When you feel global doubt about your talent, that is your talent. People who have no talent don't have any doubt. -Richard Bausch, from Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything In Between
That's where happiness lies; in the details. Happiness lies in small, particular things. Gloom and depression are general. But happiness is always specific. -Garrison Keillor
In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell what a wild, and rough, and stubborn wood this was, which in my thought renews the fear! -Dante The Divine Comedy
"Because psychic affliction often involves a withdrawal from the objects of the world, a dissatisfaction with ordinary things, writing helps writers pay attention to objects outside of their own suffering." -Judith Harris Signifying Pain
"It's memory added to imagination, subtracted by false starts, and multiplied by a fraction of the tons of hard work you've put into the mess." -Amy Tan The Opposite of Fate
“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” -Thomas Mann