Southerners love a good tale. They are born reciters, great memory retainers, diary keepers, letter exchangers . . . great talkers.
Eudora WeltyRead
For the source of the short story is usually lyrical. And all writers speak from, and speak to, emotions eternally the same in all of us: love, pity, terror do not show favorites or leave any of us out.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writers express universal emotions that resonate with all people regardless of time or place.
This quote emphasizes that at the heart of storytelling lies a lyrical essence that connects with fundamental human emotions. Eudora Welty suggests that emotions such as love, pity, and terror are inherent to the human experience and are not limited by individual differences, making storytelling a powerful tool for shared understanding and connection.
Themes
StorytellingEmotionsUniversalWritersConnection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a writing workshop to inspire budding authors to explore deep emotions in their stories.
More from Eudora Welty
All quotes βWriting a story or a novel is one way of discovering sequence in experience, of stumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writer's own life.
Eudora WeltyRead
A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.
Eudora WeltyRead
The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order the continuous thread of revelation.
Eudora WeltyRead
The first act of insight is throw away the labels. In fiction, while we do not necessarily write about ourselves, we write out of ourselves, using ourselves; what we learn from, what we are sensitive to, what we feel strongly about--these become our characters and go to make our plots. Characters in fiction are conceived from within, and they have, accordingly, their own interior life; they are individuals every time.
Eudora WeltyRead
Each day the storm clouds were opening like great purple flowers and pouring out their dark thunder. Each nightfall, the storm was laid down on their houses like a burden the day had carried.
Eudora WeltyRead
Similar quotes
New Orleans cats don't play a lot of solos unless they got something to say. It's not an ego thing like it is with some other musicians. You say what you gotta say and then shut up.
Dr. JohnRead
With all art expression, when something is seen, it is a vivid experience, sudden, compelling, and inevitable.
Ansel AdamsRead
Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.
Arthur MillerRead
I've never put out a song that I wasn't completely proud of and that I didn't love. In that sense, I've never felt like I sold out in any way.
John LegendRead
The essential thing is to spring forth, to express the bolt of lightning one senses upon contact with a thing. The function of the artist is not to translate an observation but to express the shock of the object on his nature; the shock, with the original reaction.
Henri MatisseRead
There's so little representation of people who look like me behind the camera that it makes you want to say yes to any opportunity out of desperation. It puts you in a situation where you can't make your best work. Diversity for cheap.
Lulu WangRead