I don't feel I've arrived home until I get on the beach. All my life, the theater of the sea has been a very strong thing.
Derek WalcottRead
A long time ago, I thought, as a writer in the Caribbean, 'I don't ever want to have to write 'It was great in Paris.'' Because I don't think, proportionately speaking, that one's experience in a city as opposed to, say, a village in St. Lucia, is superior to the other.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creativity and perspective are shaped by experiences, whether in urban or rural settings.
Derek Walcott reflects on the value of one's experiences, suggesting that living in a small village can be as rich and meaningful as residing in a major city like Paris. This idea challenges conventional perceptions of success and highlights the importance of acknowledging diverse environments and experiences in the creative process.
Themes
ExperienceCreativityPerspectiveCityVillage
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a workshop on creative writing to emphasize the importance of diverse experiences.
More from Derek Walcott
All quotes →Creating a poem is a continual process of re-creating your ignorance, in the sense of not knowing what's coming next.
Derek WalcottRead
My mother was a schoolteacher and very, very encouraging. She understood what it meant when I said I wanted to be a writer; both me and my brother wrote.
Derek WalcottRead
When I went to college - when I read Shakespeare or Dickens or Scott - I just felt that, as a citizen of England, a British citizen, this was as much my heritage as any schoolboy's. That is one of the things the Empire taught, that apart from citizenship, the synonymous inheritance of the citizenship was the literature.
Derek WalcottRead
The truest writers are those who see language not as a linguistic process but as a living element.
Derek WalcottRead
The poet complains or points out the discontent that lies at the heart of man, the individual man, and how can that be redeemed?
Derek WalcottRead
Similar quotes
Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.
Emily DickinsonRead
All the decisive blows are struck left-handed.
Walter BenjaminRead
How many times have we seen reality celebrities fall from grace - often through no fault of their own - and then go on a show like 'Celebrity Big Brother' and say, 'I want to show the public a different side of me.' And I'm screaming at the telly going, 'This is not therapy. This is voyeurism!'
Ricky GervaisRead
While religious tolerance is surely better than religious war, tolerance is not without its liabilities. Our fear of provoking religious hatred has rendered us incapable of criticizing ideas that are now patently absurd and increasingly maladaptive.
Sam HarrisRead
There is no body of theory or significant body of relevant information, beyond the comprehension of the layman, which makes policy immune from criticism.
Noam ChomskyRead
I’ve worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions.
Warren BuffettRead