The most difficult idea to reconcile in war is the notion that anything is going to be solved by killing a stranger, or in risking your life for a cause anchored in some distant political arena.
Walter Dean MyersRead
As a writer, I absorb stories, allow them to churn within my own head and heart - often for years - until I find a way of telling them that fits both my time and temperament.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writers take time to internalize stories before expressing them through their unique perspectives.
Walter Dean Myers emphasizes the deep and often lengthy process of storytelling for writers. He highlights that absorbing and contemplating stories is not instantaneous; rather, it requires personal reflection and compatibility with the writer's own experiences and emotions, ultimately leading to a distinct narrative that resonates with both the author and the audience.
Themes
WritingStoriesCreativityExpressionReflection
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, a teacher might quote this to inspire students to be patient with their creative process.
More from Walter Dean Myers
All quotes →I remember one time being told I could not play in a basketball game at the College of William and Mary because I was black, even though I was playing with a United States Army team.
Walter Dean MyersRead
We need to tell young people that America was built by men and women of all colors and that the future of this country is dependent on the participation of all of our citizens.
Walter Dean MyersRead
Yeah, that's funny, huh?...Something hurts you real bad and you get used to it. Like being hurt becomes part of who you are.
Walter Dean MyersRead
Books transmit values. They explore our common humanity. What is the message when some children are not represented in those books?
Walter Dean MyersRead
We’re suggesting that [kids are] missing something if they don’t read but, actually, we’re condemning kids to a lesser life. If you had a sick patient, you would not try to entice them to take their medicine. You would tell them, ‘Take this or you’re going to die.’ We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.
Walter Dean MyersRead
Similar quotes
I think architecture becomes interesting when it has a double character, that is, when it is as simple as possible but, at the same time as complex as possible
Tadao AndoRead
Write because you love it and not because it is something that you think you should do. Always write about something or somebody you know about - something that you feel deeply and passionately about. Never try and force it.
Michael MorpurgoRead
Popular culture is the new Babylon, into which so much art and intellect now flow. It is our imperial sex theater, supreme temple of the western eye. We live in the age of idols. The pagan past, never dead, flames again in our mystic hierarchies of stardom.
Camille PagliaRead
Jazz comes from our way of life, and because it's our national art form, it helps us to understand who we are.
Wynton MarsalisRead
There are artists who delight listeners with their wild and daring individuality; there are others who uncover the written score with reverence. There are few who can do both.
Stephen HoughRead
My understanding of the creative process is simply that all cultures and all concerns meet at a certain point, the human point in which everything is related to one another. That has been my creative experience. I never know who's influencing me at any time.
Wole SoyinkaRead