Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.
Interpretation
Writing involves both the act of creation and the critical evaluation of one's work.
This quote highlights the distinction between simply writing and being an author. While anyone can write down their thoughts and ideas, true authorship requires the ability to recognize the value of one's own writing and the courage to discard what does not meet their standards, demonstrating a commitment to quality and authenticity in their craft.
In practice
During a writing workshop, I used this quote to emphasize the importance of revision to aspiring writers.
It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses.
I went to collect the few personal belongings which...I held to be invaluable: my cat, my resolve to travel, and my solitude.
The only virtue on which I pride myself is my self-doubt; when a writer loses her self-doubt, the time has come to lay aside her pen.
You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.
Truffles must come to the table in their own stock and as you break open this jewel sprung from a poverty-stricken soil, imagine - if you have never visited it - the desolate kingdom where it rules.
I did not look for her, because I was afraid of dispelling the mystery we attach to people whom we know only casually.
After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.
Real magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.
What I am trying to do when I use symbols is to awaken in your unconscious some reaction. I am very conscious of what I am using because symbols can be very dangerous. When we use normal language we can defend ourselves because our society is a linguistic society, a semantic society. But when you start to speak, not with words, but only with images, the people cannot defend themselves.
You are writing for your contemporaries - not for Posterity. If you are lucky, your contemporaries will become Posterity.
Poetry is a kind of ingenious nonsense.
The content and thematic materials of dance is, of itself, like boxing. You play tennis and baseball. But boxing is not a sport you play: you stand up and do it.
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