I am madness maddened when it comes to books, writers, and the great granary silos where their wits are stored.
Interpretation
This quote expresses a deep passion and obsession for literature and the creativity of writers.
Ray Bradbury conveys the intensity of his love for books and the creative minds behind them. He emphasizes a profound connection to literature, describing it as a form of madness that inspires and captivates him, highlighting the importance of literary works as both a source of knowledge and a treasure trove of human experience.
In practice
During a book club meeting, I might use this quote to express my enthusiasm for reading.
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.
I'm the oldest son of a crazy man, I'm in a cowboy band.
There is nothing harder to learn than painting and nothing which most people take less trouble about learning. An art school is a place where about three people work with feverish energy and everybody else idles to a degree that I should have conceived unattainable by human nature.
For me, a poem is an opportunity to kind of interrogate myself a little bit.
What lives in art and is eternally living, is first of all the painter and then the painting.
Don't write stage directions. If it is not apparent what the character is trying to accomplish by saying the line, tell us how the character said it or whether or not she moved to the couch isn't going to aid the case.
Inspiration comes unawares, from unaccountable sources that have nothing to do with planning or intelligence. Let it cool ever so slightly, and you are left, pen or brush in hand, with no inspiration at all. Gifted people need not, therefore, make a song and dance about being or supposing themselves superior. They simply happened to be born with that fortunate, subconscious equipment of theirs, and the mystery exists independently of intelligence or ambition.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.