William S. Burroughs (b. Feb 5): “Desperation is the raw material of drastic change.”

5 Feb

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“Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.”

~ William S. Burroughs, b. 5 February 1914

 

Sylvia Plath: “Creativity’s worst enemy is self-doubt.”

4 Feb

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“Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

~ SYLVIA PLATH

 

Alice Cooper (b. Feb 4): “Getting drunk & stoned is easy.”

4 Feb

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“Getting drunk & stoned is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough one. That’s rebellion!”

~ Alice Cooper, b. 4 February 1948

 

James Joyce (b. Feb 2): “Men are governed by lines of intellect.”

2 Feb

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“Men are governed by lines of intellect – women, by curves of emotion.”

~ James Joyce, b. 2 February 1882

 

W. Somerset Maugham: “There are three rules for writing a novel.”

1 Feb

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“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

~ W. Somerset Maugham

S.J. Perelman (b. Feb 1): “All of us have only one personality.”

1 Feb

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“The fact is that all of us have only one personality, and we wring it out like a dishtowel. You are what you are.”

~ S.J. Perelman, b. 1 February 1904

 

Stephen King: “Reading creates an intimacy with writing.”

31 Jan

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“The real importance of reading is that it creates an ease and intimacy with the process of writing . . . It also offers you a constantly growing knowledge of what has been done and what hasn’t, what is trite and what is fresh, what works and what just lies there dying (or dead) on the page. The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.”

~ STEPHEN KING

 

Norman Mailer (b. Jan 31): “Culture’s worth huge risks.”

31 Jan

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“Culture’s worth huge, huge risks. Without culture we’re all totalitarian beasts.”

~ Norman Mailer, b. 31 January 1923

 

Maya Angelou: “Make your words bounce.”

30 Jan

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“The writer has to take the most used, most familiar objects—nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs—ball them together and make them bounce, turn them a certain way and make people get into a romantic mood; and another way, into a bellicose mood. I’m most happy to be a writer.”

~ MAYA ANGELOU

 

Vanessa Redgrave (b. Jan 30): “Integrity is so perishable.”

30 Jan

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“Integrity is so perishable in the summer months of success.”

~ Vaness Redgrave, b. 30 January 1937