The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.
Nicolas Boileau-DespreauxRead
No one who cannot limit himself has ever been able to write.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Self-discipline is essential for creativity and expression.
This quote by Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux emphasizes the importance of self-discipline in the creative process. Effective writing requires the ability to impose limits on oneself, whether that be in the form of time, subject matter, or stylistic choices, suggesting that true creativity stems from the mastery of self-control.
Themes
Self-DisciplineCreativityWritingSelf-ControlLimits
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote in a workshop about creative writing to inspire participants to embrace self-discipline.
More from Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
All quotes βBut satire, ever moral, ever new, Delights the reader and instructs him, too. She, if good sense refine her sterling page, Oft shakes some rooted folly of the age.
Nicolas Boileau-DespreauxRead
Whatever we well understand we express clearly, and words flow with ease.
Nicolas Boileau-DespreauxRead
Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me.
Nicolas Boileau-DespreauxRead
Similar quotes
You learn nothing form your successes except to think too much of yourself. It is from failure that all growth comes, provided you can recognize it, admit it, learn from it, rise above it, and then try again.
Dee HockRead
If youβre told what to look for, you canβt see anything else.
Edward TufteRead
Others will always seek to define you based on what they think you represent or who they think you are. But you have to be the one to control what you do and what you say and how you present yourself.
Loretta LynchRead
Self-control is the chief element in self-respect, and respect of self, in turn, is the chief element in courage.
ThucydidesRead
There is an authentic biology of hope. Belief and expectation - the key elements of hope - can block pain by releasing the brain's endorphins and enkephalins, mimicking the effects of morphine.
Jerome GroopmanRead
When I was young I was amazed at Plutarch's statement that the elder Cato began at the age of eighty to learn Greek. I am amazed no longer. Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long.
W. Somerset MaughamRead