“Once we reject lyricism, to blacken a page becomes an ordeal: what's the use of writing in order to say exactly what we had to say?”
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
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Emil M. Cioran 531
Romanian philosopher and essayist 1911–1995Related quotes

“When we speak, we write what we are saying in the air.”

As quoted in part 2 of Sherwood Eliot Wirt in "The Final Interview of C. S. Lewis" (1963) http://www1.cbn.com/narnia/the-final-interview-of-c.-s.-lewis
Introduction for his unfinished novel, Whistle (1978) the third part of his war trilogy (which was completed by Willie Morris); quoted in TIME magazine (13 March 1978) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,919437,00.html

Letter (1801-01-03) [Letters of Jane Austen -- Brabourne Edition]
Letters

“It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.”
Variant: It is not what we think or feel that makes us who we are. It is what we do. Or fail to do...
Source: Sense and Sensibility
“What was the use of writing if someone didn't read what you have to say?”
Source: Water Street (2006), Chapters 21-29, p. 134
Source: Growing Up Absurd (1956), p. 6.