I've never worked a day in my life. The joy of writing has propelled me from day to day and year to year. I want you to envy me, my joy. Get out of here tonight and say: 'Am I being joyful?' And if you've got a writer's block, you can cure it this evening by stopping whatever you're writing and doing something else. You picked the wrong subject.
Interpretation
Writing brings immense joy, making it feel less like work and more like passion.
In this quote, Ray Bradbury expresses how the act of writing itself is a source of joy that transcends the mundanity of work. He encourages others to reflect on their own happiness and suggests that finding joy in one's pursuits is crucial; if one encounters difficulty, it may be time to change focus rather than grind through frustration.
In practice
Using this quote in a motivational speech for aspiring writers.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
I thought, if ever there were a time to write a book about hope, it's now.
When all doors are shut and you have nowhere to go, that is when you go within. Every crisis is an opportunity and you are the beginning.
You have to grab moments when they happen. I like to improvise and ad lib.
There are times when words seem empty and only actions seem great. Such a time has come, and in the Providence of God America will once more have an opportunity to show the world that she was born to save mankind.
I am proud to be a girl, and I know that girls can change the world.
I'm not a supermodel. That's not what I do. What I do is music. I want my fans to feel the way I do, to know what they have to offer is just as important, more important, than what's happening on the outside.
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