Gay Talese Quotes

I think the writing of literature should give pleasure. What else should it be about? It is not nuclear physics. It actually has to give pleasure or it is worth nothing.

We all write poems; it is simply that poets are the ones who write in words.

I am always pleased to be asked to write a poem.

When you write something it has to hit the level that you accept as being good.

I was a serious poet for quite a while and had little notebooks filled with poetry.

The exact day I became a poet was April 1, 1965, the day I bought my first typewriter.

Fantasy is fantasy. It's fiction. It's not meant to be a textbook. I don't believe in letting research overwhelm the fiction. That's a danger of science fiction in particular, as opposed to fantasy. A lot of writers forget that what they're doing is supposed to be art.

I think writing is a glorious and noble thing.

For better or worse, poetry is my life.

Journalism encourages haste ... and haste is the enemy of art.

Writing is the greatest thing that can happen to a human being. It's the best.

We'll keep writing and if it hits our standards we'll go with it. We're not here to destroy anything. It's as precious to us as it is for someone who's followed us for years.

There is no left and right in writing. There is only good and bad writing.

Literature is invention. Fiction is fiction. To call a story a true story is an insult to both art and truth.

The art of writing is mysterious; the opinions we hold are ephemeral , and I prefer the Platonic idea of the Muse to that of Poe, who reasoned, or feigned to reason, that the writing of a poem is an act of the intelligence. It never fails to amaze me that the classics hold a romantic theory of poetry, and a romantic poet a classical theory.

There is no such thing as writer's block for writers whose standards are low enough.

A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. ... A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy: true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down.

Good writing is always new.

Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.

A writer should say to himself, not, How can I get more money?, but How can I reach more readers (without lowering standards)?

Learn to write well, or not to write at all.

Writing, the art of communicating thoughts to the mind through the eye, is the great invention of the world.

There is nothing that one can say about acting, writing, producing or directing that cannot be revoked in the next breath. Nothing is immutable. The logic of one year is a folly of the next.

When I was writing songs or performing or producing or dabbling in movies or even putting my career on hold to go to art school, I was just following my muse. A woman who did that then was criticized for having no direction. Today they call it versatility.

I'm not saying that I don't experience people in life as evil, but writing is not a place of alienation; writing is the place where we can try to be human. I think there are some artists whose works are misanthropic. When I see this kind of stuff, I think, they're smart, but I don't need art to tell me people are assholes. I can just go into the streets.