That is all the National Parks are about. Use, but do no harm.
Wallace StegnerRead
Young writers should be encouraged to write, and discouraged from thinking they are writers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writers should focus on the act of writing rather than labeling themselves as writers too soon.
This quote emphasizes the importance of the writing process for young writers. It suggests that rather than getting caught up in the identity of being a writer, they should concentrate on honing their craft and developing their skills through practice. This approach fosters creativity and growth without the pressure of self-identification that could hinder their development.
Themes
WritingCreativityYoung WritersEncouragementPractice
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a writing workshop to motivate students.
More from Wallace Stegner
All quotes βTouch. It is touch that is the deadliest enemy of chastity, loyalty, monogamy, gentility with its codes and conventions and restraints. By touch we are betrayed and betray others ... an accidental brushing of shoulders or touching of hands ... hands laid on shoulders in a gesture of comfort that lies like a thief, that takes, not gives, that wants, not offers, that awakes, not pacifies. When one flesh is waiting, there is electricity in the merest contact.
Wallace StegnerRead
Hope was always out ahead of fact, possibility obscured the outlines of reality.
Wallace StegnerRead
I was shaped by the west and have lived most of my life in it, and nothing would gratify me more than to see it in all its subregions and subcultures both prosperous and environmentally healthy, with a civilization to match its scenery.
Wallace StegnerRead
Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue and callus.
Wallace StegnerRead
No place is a place until things that have happened in it are remembered in history, ballads, yarns, legends, or monuments. Fictions serve as well as facts.
Wallace StegnerRead
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