The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read.
Interpretation
Truth should be expressed freely, without concern for its reception.
This quote by Margaret Atwood emphasizes the importance of honesty and authenticity in writing. It suggests that true expression comes from a place of sincere belief and that writers should be unencumbered by the anticipation of an audience's response, allowing them to convey their thoughts and feelings without reservation.
In practice
Using this quote in a writing workshop to encourage participants to embrace honesty in their work.
If I am good enough and quiet enough, perhaps after all they will let me go; but it’s not easy being quiet and good, it’s like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when you’ve already fallen over; you don’t seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength.
I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.
What else can I do? Once you've gone this far you aren't fit for anything else. Something happens to your mind. You're overqualified, overspecialized, and everybody knows it. Nobody in any other game would be crazy enough to hire me. I wouldn't even make a good ditch-digger, I'd start tearing apart the sewer-system, trying to pick-axe and unearth all those chthonic symbols - pipes, valves, cloacal conduits... No, no. I'll have to be a slave in the paper-mines for all time.
We love each other, that’s true whatever it means, but we aren’t good at it; for some it’s a talent, for others only an addiction.
I've learned quite a lot, over the years, by avoiding what I was supposed to be learning.
Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.
It was actually a relief for me to play an actor who was scared, who didn't know where everything was, who didn't know what buttons to push, and for me to be able to play all that.
Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.
This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes.
Their silence is praise enough.
I am an old man but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life.
If we could choose, we'd always want to be in flow and thriving, but that's not realistic. Growth has levels, and learning how to navigate them is important.
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