There is in writing the constant joy of sudden discovery, of happy accident.
Interpretation
Writing can bring unexpected joy through spontaneous creativity and discoveries.
H. L. Mencken's quote highlights the intrinsic pleasure and unexpected delights that come with the act of writing. It celebrates the idea that in the process of creating, writers often stumble upon new insights or ideas that bring satisfaction and inspiration, turning what may start as mere accidents into meaningful discoveries.
In practice
This quote can be used in a writing workshop to inspire participants to embrace unexpected moments while writing.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
Art is something greater and higher than our own skill or knowledge or learning. That art is something which, though produced by human hands, is not wrought by hands alone, but wells up from a deeper source, from a man's soul.
I’ve never sung anywhere without giving the people listening to me a chance to join in - as a kid, as a lefty, as a man touring the U.S.A. and the world, as an oldster. I guess it’s kind of a religion with me. Participation. That’s what’s going to save the human race.
I did documentary film for a long time, and I spent a lot of time behind the camera, fervently wishing that the reality I was filming would conform to my narrative propriety. But you can't control it.
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.
You must feel an affinity for what you are photographing. You must be part of it, and yet remain sufficiently detached to see it objectively. Like watching from the audience a play you already know by heart.
Beauty? To me it is a word without sense because I do not know where its meaning comes from nor where it leads to.
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