Engulfed

“Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.”
― Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670)

Originality

“The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men.”
― Blaise Pascal, Pensées

Sensitivity, Insensitivity

“Man's sensitivity to the little things and insensitivity to the greatest are the signs of a strange disorder.”
― Blaise Pascal

Too Much is the Right Amount

“When one does not love too much, one does not love enough.”

― Blaise Pascal

Love the Truth

“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.”
― Blaise Pascal

Intelligent Hell

“I would prefer an intelligent hell to a stupid paradise.”

― Blaise Pascal

Friendlier

 “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”
― Richard Peck, A Year Down Yonder

The Light

“We write by the light of every story we have ever read. ”

― Richard Peck

All of humanity's problems

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
― Blaise Pascal, Pensées

Communication

Writing is communication, not self-expression. Nobody in this world wants to read your diary except your mother.
RICHARD PECK

There is no secret code.

The whole “Can I call myself a writer?” question I found so odd, as if it’s some sort of identity that is separate from the actual act of writing. It’s very, very strange to me. There is no secret password to being a writer. There is no secret code. You just do it. People would like to imagine that the work involved is not just the writing itself. There’s serious work in writing. It’s not something other than that, really.

LYNNE TILLMAN

Misery Poker

“Memoir today is like one big game of misery poker: The more outlandish, outrageous, or just plain out-there the recounted life, the more likely the book is to attract the attention of reviewers, talk-show bookers, and, ultimately, the public.”
― Ben Yagoda

Blaise Pascal

I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time. 

Blaise Pascal

Source: Provincial Letters : Letter XVI (4 December 1656).

Susan Sontag

 I looked forward to the struggle of the writing life. I thought of it as a heroic vocation.

 SUSAN SONTAG

Dwight Watkins

 It wasn't until he started writing that Watkins was able to open up about it himself—"Writing keeps me human to the point where I can feel," he says—

https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2014/fall/d-watkins-baltimore-writer/

King's Return Singing in the Stairwell

Kings Return music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCQOXY-FWTk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecxfpzb8OhY

Ira Glass

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you’ve got to know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s going to take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just got to fight your way through.

IRA GLASS

Doris Lessing

Advice to young writers? Always the same advice: Learn to trust our own judgment, learn inner independence, learn to trust that time will sort the good from the bad– including your own bad.
DORIS LESSING

Reif Larsen

Each time you end a sentence and begin a new one—every time you press period, space, shift-capital—all kinds of crazy things can happen.
REIF LARSEN

Jose Vicente Chavez

There's always going to be someone more talented than you at writing dialogue, plot, creating twists, better at jokes or drama. HOWEVER, no one can be more "talented" than your own unique voice. USE IT. HONE IT. I promise, that alone will make you stand above all the rest.

Jose Vicente Chavez@josevinnychavez