Stupid β well, there are so many kinds of stupidity, and cleverness is one of the worst.
Thomas MannRead
The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A writer transforms ideas into creative expressions.
This quote by Thomas Mann emphasizes the creative process of writing, which involves taking abstract ideas and shaping them into tangible forms, such as stories, essays, or poems. It highlights the skill and artistry required to convert thoughts into compelling narratives that resonate with readers.
Themes
WritingCreativityIdeasExpressionArtistry
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on creative writing, I would quote Thomas Mann to inspire aspiring authors.
More from Thomas Mann
All quotes βIt is a strange fact that freedom and equality, the two basic ideas of democracy, are to some extent contradictory. Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive, just as society and the individual are mutually exclusive.
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I tell them that if they will occupy themselves with the study of mathematics they will find in it the best remedy against the lusts of the flesh.
Thomas MannRead
Literature... is the union of suffering with the instinct for form.
Thomas MannRead
The Freudian theory is one of the most important foundation stones for an edifice to be built by future generations, the dwelling of a freer and wiser humanity.
Thomas MannRead
One always has the idea of a stupid man as perfectly healthy and ordinary, and of illness as making one refined and clever and unusual.
Thomas MannRead
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If you make your living writing, and you can't write anything, it's over. It's very frightening.
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What I mean is that none of my talents had a - what's that great word - rubric. A singer, an actor, a dancer - there was nothing I could really say I was. The writing came much later. And, actually, thank God, because if I had said I'm a singer, I would really have just had one thing to do.
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What do you think an artist is? ...he is a political being, constantly aware of the heart breaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war.
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I have offered myself to the inkwell of the wordsmith that I might be shaped into new terms of being.
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