It is a lie to write in such way as to be rewarded by fame offered you by some snobbish quasi-literary groups in the intellectual gazettes.
Interpretation
Writing for fame compromises authenticity and integrity.
In this quote, Ray Bradbury emphasizes the idea that pursuing writing purely for the sake of gaining fame or recognition within elitist circles undermines the true purpose and value of literature. He warns against conforming to the tastes of certain literary groups rather than writing genuinely from one's own voice and passion.
In practice
This quote can be used in a workshop about authentic writing practices.
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 canβt imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You donβt 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.
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
One can't indefinitely do for somebody what he is reluctant to do for himself.
First you must learn to control your self. The rest follows. Blessed is he who knows himself and commands himself, for the world is his and love and happiness and peace walk with him wherever he goes.
Legends die hard. They survive as truth rarely does.
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