"Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing."

--

Source : "Reflections of a Writer: Long Work, Short Life". The New York Times, March 20, 1988.

Bernard Malamud

#Writing Quotes #Revision Quotes #Pleasure Quotes

“There is no more ridiculous custom than the one that makes you express sympathy once and for all on a given day to a person whose sorrow will endure as long as his life. Such grief, felt in such a way is always present, it is never too late to talk about it, never repetitious to mention it again.”
“I can definitely take more off my world record - a lot more. I have no doubt about that. I'm by no means putting pressure on myself, it's just the belief I have in myself......I'm not going to limit myself by nominating times or anything like that. I never thought I'd do 14:34 and I did. I thought I'd maybe do 14:38 or 14:39 that day, and I went nearly five seconds quicker so I don't want to limit the possibilities”
“I had hardly begun to read I asked how can you ever be sure that what you write is really any good at all and he said you can't you can't you can never be sure you die without knowing whether anything you wrote was any good if you have to be sure don't write”
“'The whole world loves a lover' is an interesting theory, but a very bad legal defense.”
“To work magic is to weave the unseen forces into form; to soar beyond sight; to explore the uncharted dream realm of the hidden reality; to infuse life with color, motion and strange scents that intoxicate; to leap beyond imagination into that space between the worlds where fantasy becomes real; to be at once animal and god. Magic is...the ultimate adventure.”
“Our present control of the sea is so absolute that it is sometimes taken for granted.”

Source : "Employment of Naval Forces: 'Who Commands Sea - Commands Trade'". Monthly Newsletter, March 1948.
“I'm still very connected to my family, to the world I grew up in. I understand what it means to be afraid that you can't pay a doctor's bill. Or to have to make the choice between buying a band uniform for a seventh-grader and making the insurance payment on time. That will never leave me. It was how I lived until I was well into my adult years.”
“The creative strength is good enough and deep enough to bring itself to flower and to grow in spite of this sickness.”

Source : Joanne Greenberg (2009). “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden: A Novel”, p.70, Macmillan

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