The comic spirit is given to us in order that we may analyze, weigh, and clarify things in us which nettle us, or which we are outgrowing, or trying to reshape
Thornton WilderRead
An incinerator is a writer's best friend.
Interpretation
Writers use the act of discarding ideas to refine their work.
In this quote, Thornton Wilder suggests that a writer's incinerator symbolizes the importance of eliminating unnecessary thoughts and drafts in the writing process. By acknowledging that not every idea is worth keeping, writers can focus on developing their best work, emphasizing the value of editing and the creative process of letting go.
In practice
In a writing workshop, when discussing the importance of editing, one might say, 'As Thornton Wilder said, an incinerator is a writer's best friend.'
The comic spirit is given to us in order that we may analyze, weigh, and clarify things in us which nettle us, or which we are outgrowing, or trying to reshape
A man looks pretty small at a wedding, George. All those good women standing shoulder to shoulder, making sure that the knot's tied in a mighty public way.
Good-by, Good-by, world. Good-by, Grover's Corners... Mama and Papa. Good-by to clocks ticking... and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths...and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you.
When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.
Many great writers have been extraordinarily awkward in daily exchange, but the greatest give the impression that their style was nursed by the closest attention to colloquial speech.
I want you to try and remember what it was like to have been very young. And particularly the days when you were first in love; when you were like a person sleepwalking, and you didn’t quite see the street you were in, and didn’t quite hear everything that was said to you. You’re just a little bit crazy. Will you remember that, please?
Failure and its accompanying misery is for the artist his most vital source of creative energy.
The thing about my music is, there really is no point.
Every scene, even the commonest, is wonderful, if only one can detach oneself, casting off all memory of use and custom, and behold it (as it were) for the first time; in its right, authentic colors; without making comparisons. Cherish and burnish this faculty of seeing crudely, simply, artlessly, ignorantly; of seeing like a baby or a lunatic, who lives each moment by itself and tarnishes by the present no remembrance of the past.
With a book I am the writer and I am also the director and I'm all of the actors and I'm the special effects guy and the lighting technician: I'm all of that. So if it's good or bad, it's all up to me.
The Revolution introduced me to art, and in turn, art introduced me to the Revolution!
Fifth positions, heads, musicality, energy. Not technical things so much-getting your leg higher or doing more turns but things that would set you apart from other dancers. The only way you can be different is to be yourself if you don't find your spirit and reveal it, you just look like every other dancer.
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