“The world wants oatmeal. It is not my job to give the world oatmeal.”

— Caitlín R. Kiernan

(23 June 2003)
Unfit for Mass Consumption (blog entries), 2003
Context: The world wants oatmeal. It is not my job to give the world oatmeal. It is my job not to be a hack. It is my job to try to make the world chew, lest its lazy jaw muscles atrophy and its collective mandible withers and all its teeth fall out. It is my job, as a writer, to give the world toffee and peanut brittle and tough steak and celery. I write peanut butter sandwiches, not oatmeal. And every time some dolt whines, "I'm confused" or "I don't understand" or "This doesn't make any sense," I should smile and know that I'm doing my job. Not because it is my job to be opaque, but because it is not my job to be transparent.

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 "The world wants oatmeal. It is not my job to give the world oatmeal." by Caitlín R. Kiernan?

Caitlín R. Kiernan photo

Caitlín R. Kiernan 45

writer 1964

Related quotes

“We cultivate literature on a little oatmeal.”

Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English writer and clergyman

Vol. I, ch. 2, p. 60.
Motto proposed by Smith for the Edinburgh Review.
Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

“Lisp has all the visual appeal of oatmeal with fingernail clippings mixed in.”

Larry Wall (1954) American computer programmer and author, creator of Perl

[1994Jul21.173737.16853@netlabs.com, 1994]
Usenet postings, 1994

“Philadelphia was the first city to foresee the advantages of a Federal constitution and oatmeal as a breakfast food.”

Christopher Morley Travels in Philadelphia

Travels in Philadelphia (1920)

“As a kid, I got three meals a day. Oatmeal, miss-a-meal and no meal.”

Mr. T (1952) American actor and retired professional wrestler

Attributed

“… now and then a giggling trail of mermaids appeared in our wake. We fed them oatmeal.”

Tove Jansson book The Exploits of Moominpappa

Source: Moominpappa's Memoirs

“"Fine. Your oatmeal spread in the fridge would go too, but it's already been opened. That stuff was disgusting."
"Jay, thats my facial scrub."”

Rob Payne (1973) Canadian writer

Source: Working Class Zero (2003), Chapter 17, p. 141

“Life is lumpy. And a lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat, and a lump in a breast are not the same lump. One should learn the difference.”

Robert Fulghum (1937) American writer

Source: Uh-oh - Some Observations From Both Sides Of The Refrigerator Door

“It's just the most amazing thing to love a dog, isn't it? It makes our relationships with people seem as boring as a bowl of oatmeal.”

John Grogan (1958) American journalist

Source: Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog

“Oatmeal indeed supplies the common people of Scotland with the greatest and best part of their food, which is in general much inferior to that of their neighbours of the same rank in England.”

Adam Smith (1723–1790) Scottish moral philosopher and political economist

Source: (1776), Book I, Chapter VIII, p. 91 (Oatmeal in England makes for great horses, in Scotland Great Men).

“Grandpa, like most of the fun-loving gang who built the Plants, just wanted to die or have his brain turn to oatmeal before it becomes too apparent exactly what a nightmare he and his buddies have saddled their descendants with.”

Douglas Coupland book Shampoo Planet

Shampoo Planet (1992)

Related topics