QuoteProject
I am a man and alive. For this reason I am a novelist. And, being a novelist, I consider myself superior to the saint, te scientist, the philosopher, and the poet, who are all great masters of different bits of man alive, but never get the whole hog....Only in the novel are all things given full play.
D. H. Lawrence
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the unique ability of the novel to encompass the entirety of human experience.

D. H. Lawrence claims that being a novelist allows one to capture the complete essence of life, unlike other professions that may only address specific aspects of existence. He believes that novels offer a holistic view of what it means to be human, incorporating all emotions, experiences, and truths into a singular narrative form.

Themes

NovelistHuman ExperienceLifeArtLiterature

In practice

Example use cases

In a book club discussion about the role of literature, this quote could demonstrate the novel's unique power.

More from D. H. Lawrence

God how I hate new countries: They are older than the old, more sophisticated, much more conceited, only young in a certain puerile vanity more like senility than anything.
D. H. LawrenceRead
A young man is afraid of his demon and puts his hand over the demon's mouth sometimes and speaks for him. And the things the young man says are very rarely poetry.
D. H. LawrenceRead
And besides, look at elder flowers and bluebells-they are a sign that pure creation takes place - even the butterfly. But humanity never gets beyond the caterpillar stage -it rots in the chrysalis, it never will have wings.It is anti-creation, like monkeys and baboons.
D. H. LawrenceRead
The Christian fear of the pagan outlook has damaged the whole consciousness of man.
D. H. LawrenceRead
The cosmos is a vast living body, of which we are still parts. The sun is a great heart whose tremors run through our smallest veins. The moon is a great nerve center from which we quiver forever. Who knows the power that Saturn has over us, or Venus? But it is a vital power, rippling exquisitely through us all the time.
D. H. LawrenceRead
... he preferred his own madness, to the regular sanity. He rejoiced in his own madness, he was free. He did not want that old sanity of the world, which was become so repulsive. He rejoiced in the new-found world of his madness. It was so fresh and delicate and so satisfying.
D. H. LawrenceRead

Similar quotes

Today, writers want to impress other writers.
Paulo CoelhoRead
I'd much rather wait till my material is up to par, in my opinion, than rush it just so I can stay in the limelight a little longer.
Bo BurnhamRead
The mark of all good art is not that the thing done is done exactly or finely, for machinery may do as much, but that it is worked out with the head and the workman's heart.
Oscar WildeRead
Don't be too precious about your craft... there's only 26 letters and 12 notes, and Shakespeare and Beethoven said it all better than any of us ever will
David FosterRead
I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me. That would be a pointless lie, a mere bit of artfulness.
Lucian FreudRead
Architecture, like dance, is also a language - one that everybody understands.
Santiago CalatravaRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.