“Work freely and rollickingly as though you were talking to a friend who loves you. Mentally (at least three or four times a day) thumb your nose at all know-it-alls, jeerers, critics, doubters.”
Source: If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit
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Brenda Ueland 9
Journalist and writer 1891–1985Related quotes
Many sources attribute this quote to Brown without giving a specific reference to her writings. The earliest located is the following variation from p. 47 of Musgrave Landing: Musings on the Writing Life by Susan Musgrave (1994), which Musgrave quotes as "Rita Mae Brown's warning": "If you become the kind of writer who calls forth heated emotional states, be careful. There are a lot of unbalanced people out there. The statistics on insanity are that one out of every four people is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's got to be you."
Disputed
“Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you.”
Variant: A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.
Source: The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927), p. 112.
"Dad. I miss you. Let's talk."
Weapons of Self Destruction (2010)
Source: Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
Will Grayson, p. 1 (opening words)
Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2010)
“All the things you can talk about in anyone's work are the things that are least important.”
Source: Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey
Her views on the ancient art of Samurai, quoted in "Japan (1916-20)", also in The Modern Review, Volume 23 by Ramananda Chatterjee (1918) http://books.google.co.in/books?id=fa4mAQAAIAAJ, p. 69
