"When I hit a block, regardless of what I am writing, what the subject matter is, or what's going on in the plot, I go back and I read Pablo Neruda's poetry. I don't actually speak Spanish, so I read it translation. But I always go back to Neruda. I don't know why, but it calms me, calms my brain."

-- Tea Obreht

#Block Quotes #Writing Quotes #Brain Quotes

“As we move into the twenty-first century, women's status in society will become the standard by which to measure our progress toward civility and peace.”
“The negative screams at you but the positive only whispers.”
“If prayer is you talking to God, then intuition is God talking to you.”
“Do you believe in spirits? Or ghosts?...Yes, I do. I believe in ghosts....They're the ones who haunt us. The ones who have left us behind." "Vivian has come back to the idea that the people who matter in our lives stay with us, haunting our ordinary moments. They're with us in the grocery store, as we turn the corner, chat with a friend. They rise up through the pavement; we absorb them through our soles." "The things that matter stay with you, seep into your skin.”
“Anyone too busy to say thank you will get fewer and fewer chances to say it.”
“If the Americans, in addition to the eagle and the Stars and Stripes and the more unofficial symbols of bison, moose and Indian, should ever need another emblem, one which is friendly and pleasant, then I think they should choose the grapefruit. Or rather the half grapefruit, for this fruit only comes in halves, I believe. Practically speaking, it is always yellow, always just as fresh and well served. And it always comes at the same, still hopeful hour of the morning.”
“No more pronouncements on lousy verse. No more hidden competition. No more struggling not to be a square.”

Source : Louise Bogan (1973). “What the woman lived: selected letters of Louise Bogan, 1920-1970”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
“Scientists have established huge numbers of links between particular diseases and snippets of DNA, but in the great majority of cases, this has not yet been translated into treatments that can help cure patients. These treatments will come - tomorrow, or the day after.”

You may also like:

Aminatta Forna
Writer
Anthony Marra
Writer
Chad Harbach
Writer
Emma Donoghue
Playwright
Jennifer Egan
Novelist
Julie Otsuka
Author
Karen Russell
Novelist
Nell Freudenberger
Novelist
Nicole Krauss
Author