Digressions incontestably are the sunshine; they are the life, the soul of reading.
Laurence SterneRead
To write a book is for all the world like humming a song—be but in tune with yourself, madam, 'tis no matter how high or how low you take it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing a book is like singing; it requires authenticity and personal expression.
In this quote, Laurence Sterne emphasizes that the essence of writing a book lies in being true to oneself, much like singing a song that resonates with personal feelings and thoughts. Regardless of the complexity or simplicity of the work, what matters most is that the writer connects deeply with their own emotions and experiences.
Themes
WritingAuthenticityExpressionCreativityBooks
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about creativity, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of personal authenticity in the artistic process.
More from Laurence Sterne
All quotes →Solitude is the best nurse of wisdom.
Laurence SterneRead
The accusing spirit, which flew up to heaven's chancery with the oath, blushed as he gave it in; and the recording angel as he wrote it down dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it out forever.
Laurence SterneRead
I'll not hurt thee, says Uncle Toby, rising with the fly in his hand. Go, he says, opening the window to let it escape. Why should I hurt thee? This world is surely wide enough to hold both thee and me.
Laurence SterneRead
I once asked a hermit in Italy how he could venture to live alone, in a single cottage, on the top of a mountain, a mile from any habitation? He replied, that Providence was his next-door neighbor.
Laurence SterneRead
People who are always taking care of their health are like misers, who are hoarding a treasure which they have never spirit enough to enjoy.
Laurence SterneRead
Similar quotes
Sometimes my feelings are so hot that I have to take the pen and put them out on paper to keep them from setting me afire inside; then all that ink and labor are wasted because I can't print the results
Mark TwainRead
I developed a passion for the Middle Ages the same way some people develop a passion for coconuts.
Umberto EcoRead
Translation is not original creation - that is what one must remember. In translation, some loss is inevitable.
Joseph BrodskyRead
I often use the same harmonies as pop music because the complexity of what I do is elsewhere.
Ennio MorriconeRead
What are American dry-goods? asked the duchess, raising her large hands in wonder and accentuating the verb. American novels, answered Lord Henry.
Oscar WildeRead
It needs great art, learning to play with one's own life, to play on one's own life. Meditation is the art to create music from your heart. Meditation is simply the method to transform noise into harmony, the method to shift your consciousness from the head to the heart. The head is noisy, it is all noise - a tale told by an idiot, full of fury and noise, signifying nothing.
RajneeshRead