“A writer takes earnest measures to secure his solitude and then finds endless ways to squander it.”
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Don DeLillo 101
American novelist, playwright and essayist 1936Related quotes
Source: The Noticer: Sometimes, All a Person Needs Is a Little Perspective
“The thing all writers do best is find ways to avoid writing.”
"The Secret Miracle"; Variant: Like all writers, he measured the achievements of others by what they had accomplished, asking of them that they measure him by what he envisaged or planned.
Source: Ficciones (1944)
The Roving Critic (1923), p. 20
Context: Neither creator nor critic can make himself universal by barely taking thought about it. He is what he lives. The measure of the creator is the amount of life he puts Into his work. The measure of the critic is the amount of life he finds there.
“Our ability to measure and apportion time affords an almost endless source of comfort.”
Source: Revolutionary Road
“I have a healthy appetite for solitude. If you don't, you have no business being a writer.”
The Guardian, May 9, 2007. http://books.guardian.co.uk/whyiwrite/story/0,,2075745,00.html#article_continue
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
Metropolis (1908)
Context: A new burst of rage swept over him — What did it matter whether it was true or not — whether anything was true or not? What did it matter if anybody had done all the hideous and loathsome things that everybody else said they had done? It was what everybody was saying! It was what everybody believed — what everybody was interested in! It was the measure of a whole society — their ideals and their standards! It was the way they spent their time, repeating nasty scandals about each other; living in an atmosphere of suspicion and cynicism, with endless whispering and leering, and gossip of low intrigue.