“When success happens to an English writer, he acquires a new typewriter. When success happens to an American writer, he acquires a new life.”

—  Martin Amis

"Kurt Vonnegut" (1983)
The Moronic Inferno and Other Visits to America (1986)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "When success happens to an English writer, he acquires a new typewriter. When success happens to an American writer, he…" by Martin Amis?
Martin Amis photo
Martin Amis 136
Welsh novelist 1949

Related quotes

Nelson Algren photo

“The less he sees of other writers the more of a writer he will ultimately become. When he sees scarcely anyone except other writers, he is ready for New York.”

Nonconformity (1953/1996)
Context: The American middle class's faith in personal comfort as an end in itself is, in essence, a denial of life. And it has been imposed upon American writers and playwrights strongly enough to cut them off from their deeper sources. The shortcut to comfort is called “specialization,” and in an eye-ear-nose-and-throat doctor this makes sense. But in a writer it is fatal. The less he sees of other writers the more of a writer he will ultimately become. When he sees scarcely anyone except other writers, he is ready for New York.

Willie Mays photo

“You're not from New York, are you? You can't be from New York. Well, when I broke in, I didn't know many people by name so I would just say, "Say, hey," and the writers picked that up. The writers here in New York can make anything happen, so they made that happen.”

Willie Mays (1931) Baseball player

As quoted in "Sports of the Times: The Most Natural Ballplayer" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UVUcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=p1EEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6465%2C2456085&dq=who%27s-best-ever-aside-yourself-next-roberto by Dave Anderson, in The New York Times (January 24, 1979)

Glenn Beck photo
Claude Debussy photo

“I believe the principle fault of the majority of writers and artists is having neither the will nor the courage to break with their successes, failing to seek new paths and give birth to new ideas.”

Claude Debussy (1862–1918) French composer

The Life of the Creative Spirit
Context: I believe the principle fault of the majority of writers and artists is having neither the will nor the courage to break with their successes, failing to seek new paths and give birth to new ideas. Most of them produce them twice, three, even four times. They have neither the courage nor the temerity to leave what is certain for what is uncertain. There is, however, no greater pleasure than going into the depth of oneself, setting one's whole being in motion and seeking for new and hidden treasures. What a joy to find something new in oneself, something that surprises even ourselves, filling us with warmth.

Ted Malloch photo

“We prepare for success by acquiring virtues.”

Ted Malloch (1952) American businessman

Source: Doing Virtuous Business (Thomas Nelson, 2011), p. 20.

Reinaldo Arenas photo

“The writer has a fundamental responsibility to write well or to write the best he can, because if he doesn’t he’s not a writer. And when a writer writes, he’s always referring to a social and historical context…”

Reinaldo Arenas (1943–1990) Cuban poet/novelist/playwright

Source: On a writer’s responsibility in “The Literature of Uprootedness: An Interview with Reinaldo Arenas” https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-literature-of-uprootedness-an-interview-with-reinaldo-arenas in The New Yorker (2013 Dec 5)

Charles Bukowski photo
Leonard Bernstein photo

“Writers will happen in the best of families.”

Rita Mae Brown (1944) Novelist, poet, screenwriter, activist

Related topics