QuoteProject
Authorship is not a trade, it is an inspiration; authorship does not keep an office, its habitation is all out under the sky, and everywhere the winds are blowing and the sun is shining and the creatures of God are free.
Mark Twain
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Authorship is a creative and inspiring endeavor rather than a mere profession bound by rules and limitations.

In this quote, Mark Twain emphasizes that being an author is not just about the act of writing in a structured environment; it is a form of inspiration that thrives in the natural world. He suggests that true creativity is organic and influenced by the beauty of life around us, indicating that a writer's spirit is free and always seeks inspiration from the universe.

Themes

AuthorshipInspirationCreativityNatureFreedom

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about the importance of creativity in education.

More from Mark Twain

Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
The easy part of being an artist is figuring out the message that everyone else is ready to hear. The hard part is waiting for the proper lull to make the announcement.
Mark TwainRead
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
Mark TwainRead
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Mark TwainRead
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
Mark TwainRead
In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
Mark TwainRead

Similar quotes

On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting, 'Twas only when he was off, he was acting.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.
Henri Cartier-BressonRead
When I was a bad writer, I would consciously imitate other NPR writers who I thought were wonderful. I suppose that everyone's artistic practice is different. But I collaborate and sometimes don't agree at all with my collaborators' opinions. It forces you to understand why you don't agree with something: what's the fight you're picking.
Ira GlassRead
I made myself into a poet because it was the first thing I really loved. It was an act of will.
Eileen MylesRead
In the haunted house of life, art is the only stair that doesn't creak.
Tom RobbinsRead
It wasn't a deliberate decision to become a poet. It was something I found myself doing - and loving. Language became an addiction.
Yusef KomunyakaaRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.