Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a sense of the past.
Susan SontagRead
I don't write because there's an audience. I write because there is literature.
Interpretation
Writing is done for the love of literature, not for the audience.
In this quote, Susan Sontag emphasizes the intrinsic value of writing and literature, suggesting that the act of writing should stem from a passion for the craft itself rather than seeking external validation or popularity. It highlights the importance of genuine expression and creativity over commercial success or audience approval.
In practice
In a speech about writing, you could use this quote to emphasize the importance of passion in creativity.
Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a sense of the past.
Science fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art.
Gide and I have attained such perfect intellectual communion that I experience the appropriate labor pains for every thought he gives birth to!
Volume depends precisely on the writer's having been able to sit in a room every day, year after year, alone.
In NY sensuality completely turns into sexuality - no objects for the senses to respond to, no beautiful river, houses, people. Awful smells of the street, and dirt... Nothing except eating, if that, and the frenzy of the bed.
It hurts to love. It's like giving yourself to be flayed and knowing that at any moment the other person may just walk off with your skin.
The mad is either insane or he is composing verses.
In a successful painting everything is integral - all the parts belong to the whole. If you remove an aspect or element you are removing its wholeness.
Elegance means being beautiful both on the inside and out.
You don't have to make something in order to retain your identity as an artist or a writer or a creative person. A lot of people think they have to be producing in order to maintain that identity.
Music is powered by ideas. If you don't have clarity of ideas, you're just communicating sheer sound.
But there's no way round it-commercial success is a mark of failure for a graffiti artist. We're not supposed to be embraced in that way. When you look at how society rewards so many of the wrong people, it's hard not to view financial reimbursement as a badge of self-serving mediocrity.
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