“I must be lean & write & make worlds beside this to live in.”

— Sylvia Plath

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Sylvia Plath 342

American poet, novelist and short story writer 1932–1963

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“For I must write to The Times tonight, and save the world from sin.”

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Liliana Segre (1930) Italian Holocaust survivor and senator for life

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Diary entries (1914 - 1974)
Context: Why one writes is a question I can answer easily, having so often asked it of myself. I believe one writes because one has to create a world in which one can live. I could not live in any of the worlds offered to me — the world of my parents, the world of war, the world of politics. I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breathe, reign, and recreate myself when destroyed by living. That, I believe, is the reason for every work of art.

“There's a difference between writing for a living and writing for
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“"Why," said I — "why should you suppose that I dislike the place?"
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Anne Brontë book Agnes Grey

Source: Agnes Grey (1847), Ch. XX : The Farewell

“I must be lean & write & make worlds beside this to live in.”

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