Abortions will not let you forget. You remember the children you got that you did not get.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
A writer should get as much education as possible, but just going to school is not enough; if it were, all owners of doctorates would be inspired writers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Education is vital for writers, but formal schooling alone doesn't guarantee good writing skills.
In this quote, Gwendolyn Brooks emphasizes that while education is important for writers, true inspiration and creativity come from experiences beyond formal schooling. Simply having a degree does not make one a talented writer; it takes passion, practice, and a diverse range of influences to develop one's voice and style.
Themes
EducationWritingInspirationCreativityExperience
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, a teacher might quote Brooks to inspire students to seek experiences beyond the classroom.
More from Gwendolyn Brooks
All quotes βSay to them, say to the down-keepers, the sun-slappers, the self-soilers, the harmony-hushers, "Even if you are not ready for day it cannot always be night." You will be right. For that is the hard home-run. Live not for battles won. Live not for the-end-of-the-song. Live in the along.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
What I'm fighting for now in my work... for an expression relevant to all manner of blacks, poems I could take into a tavern, into the street, into the halls of a housing project.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
Very early in life I became fascinated with the wonders language can achieve. And I began playing with words.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
I shall create! If not a note, a hole./If not an overture, a desecration.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
Art is a refining and evocative translation of the materials of the world.
Gwendolyn BrooksRead
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