#AS Byatt

#AS Byatt

“Isn’t it a miracle that we’ve ended up as ourselves?” —Hilton Als https://t.co/uDat4Phdyb

“I didn’t see myself, I didn’t exist.” —Hilton Als https://t.co/uDat4Phdyb

“For years, there were opportunities that I didn’t fully accept because I didn’t know how, but there were people saying, You can do it.” —Hilton Als https://t.co/uDat4Phdyb

“The history of literature is ­accounts of consciousness that wouldn’t hold up in a court of law but do hold up on the page and in our hearts and minds.” —Hilton Als https://t.co/uDat4Phdyb

“Ninety percent of good writing is rewriting.” —Charles Johnson https://t.co/SmRuB0WXMR

“Whether it’s a play, a story, or an essay, I feel fortunate to be able to speak in these different ways.” —Hilton Als https://t.co/uDat4Phdyb

“Writing a poem is like knotting a fish net. You have to wait until later to see if it has caught a fish.” —Kay Ryan https://t.co/7QT87jN7Jf

“Every form is difficult, no one is easier than another. They all kick your ass.” —James Baldwin https://t.co/qLexscKIsh

“Writing about art is also a way of paying a debt to those great professors who thought I had talent.” —Hilton Als https://t.co/uDat4Phdyb

“At first I thought I was going to be a jockey.” —Jane Smiley https://t.co/Kith6c1olZ

“Writing is only one word at a time.” —Jane Smiley https://t.co/Kith6c1olZ

“In prose you make the paragraph. Every paragraph is a poem.” —Jack Kerouac https://t.co/w6x0c31gX8

“I’m so compelled by fiction, too, because it pushes me much more quickly and readily than nonfiction to construct work that’s entirely voice, and not in marriage to another person’s story or voice.” —Hilton Als https://t.co/uDat4Phdyb

“The best any writer can hope for is that somebody will pick him up at some time in the future.” —Jane Smiley https://t.co/Kith6c1olZ

“The first person is the most terrifying view of all.” —James Baldwin https://t.co/qLexscKIsh

“That’s the anguish of it. Do this book, or die.” —James Baldwin https://t.co/qLexscKIsh

“Writing is difficult; it is like jumping into the void.” —Nathalie Sarraute https://t.co/fXxzw8iPHV

“The pattern of the thing precedes the thing. I fill in the gaps of the crossword.” —Vladimir Nabokov https://t.co/URVPqKrV1C

“Every form is difficult, no one is easier than another. They all kick your ass.” —James Baldwin https://t.co/qLexscKIsh

“The first person is the most terrifying view of all.” —James Baldwin https://t.co/qLexscKIsh

“That’s the anguish of it. Do this book, or die.” —James Baldwin https://t.co/qLexscKIsh

“I’m a firm believer in walking away.” —Jane Smiley https://t.co/Kith6c1olZ