Among writers, if you don't have a therapist, it's like saying you don't keep a journal or use the thesaurus. It's a natural accompaniment.
Amy TanRead
It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being a writer allows one to deeply contemplate life, making it a privileged pursuit.
Amy Tan's quote highlights the unique position of writers who are afforded the luxury of reflecting on life through their craft. In the act of writing, they engage with their thoughts and experiences, exploring the complexities of existence, which can be seen as a form of luxury compared to the more routine and less contemplative lives of others.
Themes
WriterLifeLuxuryReflectionThought
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of creativity, I could mention Amy Tan's quote to emphasize the reflective aspect of writing.
More from Amy Tan
All quotes βHer education only made her unhappy thinking about it - that no matter how much she changed her life, she could not change the world that surrounded her.
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You can't have intentions without consequences. The question is, who pays for the consequences? Saving fish from drowning. Same thing. Whoβs saved? Whoβs not?
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I am fascinated by language in daily life: the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.
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Even if I had expected it, even if I had known what I was going to do with my life, it would have knocked the wind out of me. When something that violent hits you, you can't help but lose your balance and fall. And after you pick yourself up, you realize you can't trust anybody to save you- not your husband, not your mother, not God. So what can you do to stop yourself from tilting and falling all over again?
Amy TanRead
And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench. All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal that was now unbreakable. So I never found a way to ask her why she had hoped something so large that failure was inevitable. And even worse, I never asked her what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope?
Amy TanRead
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