“I cannot write at all, but if I could how could I make a little book, when I have seen enough to make a dozen large books? I will not write at all.”
Journal entry in Audubon and His Journals (1897), edited by Maria R. Audubon, Vol. I, "The European Journals 1826 - 1829", p. 184
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John James Audubon 6
American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter 1785–1851Related quotes

The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), A Cold Day

“I wish I could write a book that will be read for as long as our civilization lasts…”
As quoted in The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett & George Soros (2006) by Mark Tier, p. 219
Context: I wish I could write a book that will be read for as long as our civilization lasts... I would value it much more highly than any business success if I could contribute to an understanding of the world in which we live or, better yet, if I could help to preserve the economic and political system that has allowed me to flourish as a participant.

“When I read it, I don't wince, which is all I ever ask for a book I write.”
On Tough Guys Don't Dance as quoted in The New York Times (8 June 1984)
“I cannot write long books; I leave that for those who have nothing to say.”
The Decline and Fall of Science (1976)
Source: I Capture the Castle

Source: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884), PART II: OTHER WORLDS, Chapter 22. How I Then Tried to Diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by Other Means, and of the Result
Context: I devoted several months in privacy to the composition of a treatise on the mysteries of Three Dimensions. Only, with the view of evading the Law, if possible, I spoke not of a physical Dimension, but of a Thoughtland whence, in theory, a Figure could look down upon Flatland and see simultaneously the insides of all things, and where it was possible that there might be supposed to exist a Figure environed, as it were, with six Squares, and containing eight terminal Points. But in writing this book I found myself sadly hampered by the impossibility of drawing such diagrams as were necessary for my purpose... my life was under a cloud. All pleasures palled upon me; all sights tantalized and tempted me to outspoken treason, because I could not but compare what I saw in Two Dimensions with what it really was if seen in Three, and could hardly refrain from making my comparisons aloud.' I neglected my clients and my own business to give myself to the contemplation of the mysteries which I had once beheld, yet which I could impart to no one, and found daily more difficult to reproduce even before my own mental vision.

1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero As King