Thursday, February 12

Quotes about Writing

Some stuff i found that might be something to think about when writing....
4 "Words, once they are printed, have a life of their own." ~Carol Burnett
4 "Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." Cyril Connolly
4 "Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword." ~Edward Bulwer-Lytton
4 "The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think."~Edwin Schlossberg
4 "A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?" ~George Orwell "Politics and the English Language", 1946

2 comments:

  1. sparkling!
    I was thinking just this morning about what George Orwell was saying: what do Sociologists want to say?
    We cannot write well if we are not asking the right questions. We keep asking about social matters based on criteria such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, and income. Are those really the driving "forces," or are we missing the boat? I.e., do I behave in certain ways because I am an old white female - or do I behave in certain ways because of what I see and what I seek?
    We also seem out to prove that the world is wicked. If our job is to understand how the world works, how about finding ways that it does work: Understand solutions, not problems.
    So I agree with George Orwell when he urges us first to ask WHAT AM I TRYING TO SAY.
    what drives human beings?
    what do we humans want?
    what do we see?
    what do we do?

    ReplyDelete