Abortions will not let you forget. You remember the children you got that you did not get.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
I shall create! If not a note, a hole./If not an overture, a desecration.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the necessity of creative expression, suggesting that creating something, even if imperfect, is better than creating nothing at all.
Gwendolyn Brooks' quote reflects the artist's drive to create, highlighting the importance of the act of creation itself. It suggests that whether the outcome is a work of beauty or a flawed effort, the act of engaging in creativity is essential, and that failing to create is a form of destruction or loss. This resonates with the idea that every expression, however small or flawed, has value.
Themes
CreationArtExpressionCreativityImperfection
In practice
Example use cases
During an art workshop, one might say this quote to encourage participants to embrace their creativity without fear of mistakes.
More from Gwendolyn Brooks
All quotes βSay to them, say to the down-keepers, the sun-slappers, the self-soilers, the harmony-hushers, "Even if you are not ready for day it cannot always be night." You will be right. For that is the hard home-run. Live not for battles won. Live not for the-end-of-the-song. Live in the along.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
What I'm fighting for now in my work... for an expression relevant to all manner of blacks, poems I could take into a tavern, into the street, into the halls of a housing project.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
Very early in life I became fascinated with the wonders language can achieve. And I began playing with words.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
A writer should get as much education as possible, but just going to school is not enough; if it were, all owners of doctorates would be inspired writers.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
Art is a refining and evocative translation of the materials of the world.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
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