Writing is a lonely job. Even if a writer socializes regularly, when he gets down to the real business of his life, it is he and his type writer or word processor. No one else is or can be involved in the matter.
Interpretation
Writing is an intensely solitary activity, reflecting the personal struggle of the author despite any social interactions.
In this quote, Isaac Asimov emphasizes the solitary nature of writing, suggesting that the true creative work happens in isolation. Regardless of how often a writer interacts with others, when it comes time to create, the writer is alone, facing their thoughts and the blank page, highlighting the personal and often lonely nature of the craft.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a writing workshop to highlight the solitary nature of the craft.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
Drawing is the art of taking a line for a walk.
It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance, for our consideration and application of these things, and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.
To devote yourself to the creation and enjoyment of beauty, then, can be a serious business-not always necessarily a means of escaping reality, but sometimes a means of holding on to the real when everything is flaking away into... rhetoric and plot.
I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose = words in their best order; - poetry = the best words in the best order.
The arts are neglected because they are based on perception, and perception is disdained because it is not assumed to involve thought.
Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth.
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