I sometimes get up at night when I can't sleep and walk down into my library and open one of my books and read a paragraph and say, 'My God, did I write that?
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the author's surprise and introspection about their own work.
Ray Bradbury's quote captures a moment of awe and self-reflection when he encounters his own writing. It emphasizes the unexpected joy and amazement that can come from revisiting one's creations, highlighting the deep connection between the author and their work. This experience can lead to insights about personal growth and the evolution of artistic expression over time.
In practice
During a writer's retreat, one might use this quote to inspire others to reflect on their own works.
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.
When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this - that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual mindedness more marked.
It is much better to tempt fortune where it can favor you than to see your certain ruin by not tempting it.
If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.
Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked.
A man must fortify himself and understand that a wise man who yields to laziness or anger or passion or love of drink, or who commits any other action prompted by impulse and inopportune, will probably find his fault condoned; but if he stoops to greed, he will not be pardoned, but render himself odious as a combination of all vices at once.
There is no greater mistake than to suppose that platitudes, smooth words, timid policies, offer today a path to safety.
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