Associate with the noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty; but learn to be happy alone.
Saul BellowRead
The main reason for rewriting is not to achieve a smooth surface, but to discover the inner truth of your characters.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Rewriting helps uncover deeper insights about characters rather than just improving the text's flow.
Saul Bellow emphasizes that the process of rewriting is crucial for authors to delve deeper into the essence of their characters. Instead of simply refining language and style for aesthetics, the real value lies in gaining a better understanding of who the characters are, which can lead to more authentic and profound storytelling.
Themes
RewritingCharactersTruthWritingAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a writing workshop to encourage participants to explore their characters more deeply.
More from Saul Bellow
All quotes βWhen we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
Saul BellowRead
In here, the human bosom -- mine, yours, everybody's -- there isn't just one soul. There's a lot of souls. But there are two main ones, the real soul and a pretender soul. Now! Every man realizes that he has to love something or somebody. He feels that he must go outward. 'If thou canst not love, what art thou?' Are you with me?
Saul BellowRead
I've discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, 'To hell with you.'
Saul BellowRead
I see that I've become a really bad correspondent. It's not that I don't think of you. You come into my thoughts often. But when you do it appears to me that I owe you a particularly grand letter. And so you end in the "warehouse of good intentions": "Can't do it now." "Then put it on hold." This is one's strategy for coping with old age, and with death--because one can't die with so many obligations in storage. Our clever species, so fertile and resourceful in denying its weaknesses.
Saul BellowRead
A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.
Saul BellowRead
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