There are two kinds of writers; the great ones who can give you truths, and the lessor ones, who can only give you themselves.
Interpretation
This quote distinguishes between talented writers who convey deeper truths and those who write primarily from personal experience.
Clifton Fadiman's quote highlights the dichotomy in the writing world between those who are able to articulate universal truths and insights that resonate with readers and those who focus solely on their personal narratives. The implication is that great writing transcends the individual and connects with broader human experiences, while lesser writing tends to be more self-referential and limited in scope.
In practice
During a writer's workshop, one could use this quote to discuss the importance of authenticity in writing.
To read in bed is to draw around us invisible, noiseless curtains. Then at last we are in a room of our own and are ready to burrow back, back to that private life of the imagination we all led as a child and to whose secret satisfactions so many of us have mislaid the key.
One measure of friendship consists not in the number of things friends can discuss, but in the number of things they need no longer mention.
Insomnia is a gross feeder. It will nourish itself on any kind of thinking, including thinking about not thinking.
A sense of humor is the ability to understand a joke - and that the joke is oneself.
When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.
A sense of humor is the ability to understand a joke-and that the joke is oneself.
Eraserhead is my most spiritual movie. No one understands when I say that, but it is.
In terms of helping people understand and know each other a little better, music is universal - universal and transporting.
I would hate to think I am not an amature. An amateur is one who loves what he is doing. Very often, I'm afraid, the professional hates what he is doing. So, I'd rather be an amateur.
As a writer, I tend to be drawn to marginal people - writers, poet-prophets, seers, eccentrics - who embody the deeper ambivalences of their societies and bear deeper witness to their world than the famous figures we are used to celebrating, or demonizing, in our histories.
I'm not so facile that I can accomplish or find out what I want to know or explore enough of the possibilities and a way of making a painting, say, in just one painting or two paintings.
Where there is a woman there is magic. If there is a moon falling from her mouth, she is a woman who knows her magic, who can share or not share her powers. A woman with a moon falling from her mouth, roses between her legs and tiaras of Spanish moss, this woman is a consort of the spirits.
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