The expression to write something down suggests a descent of thought to the fingers whose movements immediately falsify it.
William H. GassRead
So to the wretched writer I should like to say that there’s one body only whose request for your caresses is not vulgar, is not unchaste, untoward, or impolite: the body of your work itself; for you must remember that your attentions will not merely celebrate a beauty but create one; that yours is love that brings it own birth with it, just as Plato has declared, and that you should therefore give up the blue things of this world in favor of the words which say them
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of valuing one's creative work and the love that goes into it.
In this quote, William H. Gass suggests that a writer’s true focus should be on nurturing and embracing their creative work, rather than seeking validation from external sources. He argues that the act of writing is a profound form of love that generates beauty and meaning, akin to giving birth, and urges writers to prioritize their craft over superficial distractions in the world.
Themes
WritingCreativityBeautyLoveArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop on creative writing, the instructor could use this quote to inspire students to focus on their art rather than external validation.
More from William H. Gass
All quotes →Of course there is enough to stir our wonder anywhere; there's enough to love, anywhere, if one is strong enough, if one is diligent enough, if one is perceptive, patient, kind enough -- whatever it takes.
William H. GassRead
For the speedy reader paragraphs become a country the eye flies over looking for landmarks, reference points, airports, restrooms, passages of sex.
William H. GassRead
For me, the short story is not a character sketch, a mouse trap, an epiphany, a slice of suburban life. It is the flowering of a symbol center. It is a poem grafted onto sturdier stock.
William H. GassRead
Freud thought that a psychosis was a waking dream, and that poets were daydreamers too, but I wonder if the reverse is not as often true, and that madness is a fiction lived in like a rented house
William H. GassRead
I am firmly of the opinion that people who can’t speak have nothing to say. It’s one more thing we do to the poor, the deprived: cut out their tongues … allow them a language as lousy as their life
William H. GassRead
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