Most writers tend to get worse rather than better. I'm determined to be one that gets better.
Edmund WhiteRead
I've always seen writing as a way of telling the truth. For me, writing is about truth. I have always tried to be faithful to my own experience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing is a medium for expressing truth based on personal experiences.
In this quote, Edmund White emphasizes the idea that writing is not just a craft, but a means of conveying authenticity and personal truth. He reflects on his dedication to remaining faithful to his own experiences, suggesting that the essence of writing lies in honesty and genuine expression, rather than mere fabrication or imitation.
Themes
WritingTruthExperienceExpressionAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
During a writing workshop, one could use this quote to inspire participants to share their true stories.
More from Edmund White
All quotes βIn a memoir, your main contract with the reader is to tell the truth, no matter how bizarre.
Edmund WhiteRead
If bigots oppose gay marriage so vehemently, it must be because marriage is a defining institution for them; gays will never be fully accepted until they can marry and adopt, like anyone else.
Edmund WhiteRead
When we are young... we often experience things in the present with a nostalgia-in-advance, but we seldom guess what we will truly prize years from now.
Edmund WhiteRead
I was never an assimilationist. I always thought gays had some special mission.
Edmund WhiteRead
The Stonewall riots were a key moment for gay people. Throughout modern history, gays had thought of themselves as something like a mental illness or maybe a sin or a crime. Gay liberation allowed us to make the leap to being a 'minority group,' which made life much easier.
Edmund WhiteRead
Similar quotes
What is a poet? An unhappy man who hides deep anguish in his heart, but whose lips are so formed that when the sigh and cry pass through them, it sounds like lovely music.... And people flock around the poet and say: 'Sing again soon' - that is, 'May new sufferings torment your soul but your lips be fashioned as before, for the cry would only frighten us, but the music, that is blissful.
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The big problem with songwriting for me is starting a new song. It's the thing where all the anguish exists, not in the writing of the song, but the starting of the new song.
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Variety is more than a means of avoiding boredom, since art is more than an entertainment of the senses.
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A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away.
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I never regret things. It's a really dangerous thing to say, but for anyone involved in the arts, the bad things that happen make for good material. It's not a comfortable truth, but it is true.
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Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.
Martin LutherRead