Sometimes it's best to speak from ignorance: that way, you can see the wood without being distracted by the trees.
Howard JacobsonRead
I think one of the main reasons I write is to do better than ranting. The ranting is the opinion, and the writing is not the opinion. I always say that people's opinions are the worst things about them. The words demand a dignity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing elevates thoughts beyond mere opinions and demands respect.
In this quote, Howard Jacobson emphasizes the distinction between the impulsiveness of opinions, expressed through ranting, and the thoughtful process involved in writing. He believes that writing should carry a certain dignity, as it reflects deeper contemplation and a more respectful representation of one's thoughts, rather than being a mere outburst of personal views.
Themes
WritingOpinionsDignityThoughtfulnessExpression
In practice
Example use cases
During a writing workshop, I reminded participants of the importance of expressing thoughts with dignity rather than just sharing opinions.
More from Howard Jacobson
All quotes →How do you explain to somebody who doesn't understand that you don't build a library to read. A library is a resource. Something you go to, for reference, as and when. But also something you simply look at, because it gives you succour, answers to some idea of who you are or, more to the point, who you would like to be, who you will be once you own every book you need to own.
Howard JacobsonRead
It is no judgement of a thing outside yourself to say it makes you ill. The wise reader knows that every pronouncement is, to some degree, an act of self-exposure; the book you find too challenging might only show how ill-equipped you are to face its challenge.
Howard JacobsonRead
In my experience, every book you write changes the conditions in which you write the next.
Howard JacobsonRead
For a lot of readers these days, a book is something you have to agree or disagree with. But you can't agree with a novel. For my generation, it was assumed that a book is a dramatic thing, that the eye of the book is not telling you what to think.
Howard JacobsonRead
It isn't only in the name of free speech that the views of an itchy polemicist should be tolerated - and I say itchy polemicist promoting thought, not itchy ideologue promoting violence - but because provocation is indispensable to the workings of a sound, creative culture.
Howard JacobsonRead
Similar quotes
The seeker says, "I do not know." That takes honesty. The master says, "I do not know." That takes a mystic's mind that knows things through non-knowing. The disciple says, "I know." That takes ignorance, in the form of borrowed knowledge.
Anthony De MelloRead
When you develop your opinions on the basis of weak evidence, you will have difficulty interpreting subsequent information that contradicts these opinions, even if this new information is obviously more accurate.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
O you, who spends his lifetime disobeying his Lord, no one amongst your enemies is wicked to you more than you are to yourself
Ibn Qayyim Al-JawziyyaRead
One day a long time from now you'll cease to care anymore whom you please or what anybody has to say about you. That's when you'll finally produce the work you're capable of.
J. D. SalingerRead
What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Doing what's right isn't the problem. It is knowing what's right.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead