“No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.”–Mary Shelley
What better way to celebrate Mary Shelley’s birthday than with this fabulous quote? It’s one of my favorite quotes for writing, because it’s a good reminder that a) all characters are flawed somehow, and b) even the worst villains don’t think of themselves as purely villains.
Kind of in love with artist Lisa Congdon’s work. Her series of quotes is fantastic, too. I especially like this one:
Good advice for pretty much anyone. Work like writing can be hard, especially when there’s a lot of rejection involved. Staying tremendously interested in stories can help you move forward through those hard times in your writing career.
It doesn’t look like this image is up on her Etsy site (yet?) but I’d love to have a print and hang it above my desk. Great writing inspiration!
(image: Julia Congdon)(via A Beautiful Mess)
“Storytelling makes us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving. Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith, faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically. It is we humans who either help bring about, or hinder the coming of the kingdom. We look around us, and it is a complex world, full of incomprehensible greed…irrationality, brutality, war, terrorism–but also self-sacrifice, honor, dignity–and in all of this we look for, and usually find, pattern, structure, meaning. Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.”–Madeleine L’Engle
From Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life. This idea of writing as a way of expressing hope for humanity and finding meaning in the chaos reminds me of Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
“Life is a luminous halo, a semitransparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end. Is it not the task of the novelist to convey this varying, this unknown and uncircumscribed spirit, whatever aberration or complexity it may convey?”–Virginia Woolf
(image: Wikimedia Commons)
A couple of fun blogs that take on literary quote matching. I’m feeling the synesthesia!
I’ve mentioned before that I like to create playlists for my various literary projects. But I’ve never tried matching songs to previously created works from the literary canon. Enter literary jukebox, which pairs famous quotes with thematically similar songs.
And this tumblr might leave you craving a sugary treat, but I think Dough Country for Old Men, which pairs pictures of donuts with literary quotes, is pretty fun. The title puns alone get my approval. My own attempt at donut quotes:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.–William Shakespeare
(via Bon Appetit)(image: OSU Special Collections & Archives : Commons)
Love this print:
I think this is one of the awesome things about books (and art in general). They can affect you in such a deep, personal way. And it doesn’t even have to be as direct as “I read a book about skateboarders, and I’m a skateboarder, so I felt emotionally moved.” Books and other art can have such a deep resonance that it doesn’t have to be based on anything you can put into words. But you know that the book is part of you.
(image: Perpetual Thoughts)(via eff yeah nerdfighters)
These illustrated versions of literary quotes are so cool! One I especially like:
You can buy them here.
Love this quote:
Inkheart is a delightful novel in general, and it perfectly captures what it means to love books. This is just one great example.
(image: Design Crush)
“Being a writer does not necessarily mean being published. It’s very nice to be published. It’s what you want. When you have a vision, you want to share it. But being a writer means writing. It means building up a body of work. It means writing every day. You can hardly say that van Gogh was not a painter because he sold one painting during his lifetime, and that to his brother. But do you say that van Gogh wasn’t a painter because he wasn’t “published?” He was a painter because he painted, because he held true to his vision as he saw it. And I think that’s the best example I can give you.”–Madeleine L’Engle
From Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life; probably the best example of why the writing itself is what matters.
Juvenile or adult, War and Peace or Treasure Island, Pride and Prejudice or Beauty and the Beast, a great work of the imagination is one of the highest forms of communication of truth that mankind has reached. But a great piece of literature does not try to coerce you to believe it or agree with it. A great piece of literature simply is.–Madeleine L’Engle
This is from my current read Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life, which is basically a bunch of awesome quotes from L’Engle about writing, reading, and art.