There's no doubt that scientific training helps many authors to write better science fiction. And yet, several of the very best were English majors who could not parse a differential equation to save their lives.
David BrinRead
Writing can be taken up at any point. But you need to remember that the arts are fundamentally unfair. Hard work and diligence won't necessarily take you all the way. Talent, nepotism, influence, and pure luck play a huge part.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing is accessible to anyone, but success often relies on factors beyond effort alone.
David Brin's quote emphasizes that while anyone can pursue writing and artistic endeavors, success in these fields is not solely determined by hard work and dedication. Factors such as inherent talent, connections, and luck significantly influence the outcome, highlighting the unpredictable nature of the arts.
Themes
WritingArtTalentLuckSuccess
In practice
Example use cases
This quote is perfect for a motivational speech about pursuing creative careers.
More from David Brin
All quotes →Competition, by itself, always leads to cheating by the powerful, who try to establish pyramids of power, like feudalism. Yet, competition is the great creative force! So how do we save it from its own contradictions? By cooperation! By cooperating with each other, via politics, to make rules and prevent cheating, so that competition can thrive!
David BrinRead
Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on.
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It's how creativity works. Especially in humans. For every good idea, ten thousand idiotic ones must first be posed, sifted, tried out, and discarded. A mind that's afraid to toy with the ridiculous will never come up with the brilliantly original.
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When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.
David BrinRead
Human beings are inherently misled into subjective fantasies, but there's a saving grace. We all have different delusions. Other people don't necessarily share yours, and hence they will help you penetrate yours through the miracle of criticism!
David BrinRead
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