“To write is human, to edit is divine.”

— Stephen King

Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Stephen King 733

American author 1947

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Sourced quotes

“To live and let live, without clamor for distinction or recognition; to wait on divine love; to write truth first on the tablet of one's own heart - this is the sanity and perfection of living, and my human ideal.”

Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) religious leader

“The world is not divine sport, it is divine destiny. There is divine meaning in the life of the world, of man, of human persons, of you and of me.”

Martin Buber book I and Thou

I and Thou (1923)
Context: The world is not divine sport, it is divine destiny. There is divine meaning in the life of the world, of man, of human persons, of you and of me.
Creation happens to us, burns itself into us, recasts us in burning — we tremble and are faint, we submit. We take part in creation, meet the Creator, reach out to Him, helpers and companions. <!-- § 49

“I believe in the future a new Dante will write a new Divine Comedy.”

Ba Jin (1904–2005) Chinese novelist

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“To err is human, to forgive divine.”

Alexander Pope An Essay on Criticism

Source: An Essay on Criticism (1711)

“To create is divine, to reproduce is human.”

Man Ray (1890–1976) American artist and photographer

"Originals Graphics Multiples" (1973) 
Context: An original is a creation motivated by desire.
Any reproduction of an original is motivated by necessity.
The original is the result of an automatic process, the reproduction, of a mechanical process. In other words: Inspiration then information; each validates the other.
All other considerations are beyond the scope of these statements.
It is marvelous that we are the only species that creates gratuitous forms. To create is divine, to reproduce is human.

“To divinise is human, to humanise is divine.”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

Les feuilles d'automne (1831)

“To write is human, to edit is divine.”

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