“I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say.”
Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer
“I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it.”
Last update June 3, 2021. History
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Do you have more details about the quote "I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it." by William Faulkner?
William Faulkner214
American writer 1897–1962Related quotes
Shi Nai'an (1296–1372) Chinese writer
Variant translation by Pearl S. Buck: "Alas, I was born to die! How can I know what those who come after me and read my book will think of it? I cannot even know what I myself, born into another incarnation, will think of it. I do not even know if I myself afterwards can even read this book. Why therefore should I care?" (All Men are Brothers, 1933; p. xiii)
Preface to Water Margin
“How can I know what I think until I see what I say,”
Karl E. Weick (1936) Organisational psychologist
Source: 1980s-1990s, Sensemaking in Organizations, 1995, p. 25
Context: In the recipe, How can I know what I think until I see what I say, saying equates to variation, seeing equates to selection of meaning in what was said, and thinking equates to retention of an interpretation. The retained interpretation may then be imposed subsequently to interpret similar saying (retention is credited) in order to construct cumulative understanding, test past labels for their validity, or generalize older labels to newer events.
Halle Berry (1966) American actress
Betsy Pickle (November 21, 2003) "Berry's tough break - Actress stretches to physical max in 'Gothika'", The Knoxville News-Sentinel, p. 12.
Scarlett Johansson (1984) American actress, model, and singer
As quoted in "Wilde about the girl" in The Sydney Morning Herald (13 June 2005) http://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Wilde-about-the-girl/2005/06/12/1118514919678.html <br class="br">Context: I read a lot of things about myself that aren't true … I've read that I've been with people I've never met. It's nice not to have any attachment, but, likewise, it's nice to have a boyfriend. I'm open to that. But it's hard, when you're working constantly, to spend enough time with someone.
“Often on a wet day I begin counting up; what I've read and what I haven't read.”
Virginia Woolf book Between the Acts
Source: Between the Acts
Samuel Beckett book Molloy
Molloy (1951)
Context: Anything worse than what I do, without knowing what, or why, I have never been able to conceive, and that doesn’t surprise me, for I never tried. For had I been able to conceive something worse than what I had I would have known no peace until I got it, if I know anything about myself.
“When I read, it is not acted literature; but what I write is written acting.”
Karl Kraus (1874–1936) Czech playwright and publicist
Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)