"The desire to write a novel is the single required prerequisite for writing a novel."

--

Source : Jane Smiley (2008). “13 Ways of Looking at the Novel”, p.29, Anchor

Jane Smiley

#Writing Quotes #Desire Quotes #Novel Quotes

“We need to continue investing in the programs that put Americans back to work in communities like Clark County.”
“"Hope springs eternal in the human breast," and is as necessary to life as the act of breathing.”
“Every sin that is left without repentance is a sin unto death, for which if even a saint shall pray, he shall not be heard.”
“Jeans have become this neutral foundational garment. If you want to show you are relaxed, if you want to be relaxed, you wear jeans.”
“Imitation both unconscious and conscious is par excellence the educational method of the family. It is plain that a considerable part of the adaptation of living beings to their environment, i.e., of beings that are born plastic, is passed on from generation to generation through imitation. Were this not so, much if not all of the road traversed by one generation would have to be travelled by the next generation from the very beginning and without short-cuts. Consequently there would be little chance for the novel adaptation, the propitious individual variation, that constitutes progress.”
“You wind up creating from silence, like painting a picture on a blank canvas that could bring tears to somebody's eyes. As songwriters, our blank canvas is silence. Then we write a song from an idea that can change somebody's life. Songwriting is the closest thing to magic that we could ever experience. That's why I love songwriting.”
“As an actress, emotions are my business, my stock-in-trade. As such, I've dealt with them nearly all my life.”
“Nothing about the priesthood is self-centered. The priesthood always is used to serve, to bless, and to strengthen other people.”

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