I sometimes get up at night when I can't sleep and walk down into my library and open one of my books and read a paragraph and say, 'My God, did I write that?
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the author's surprise and introspection about their own work.
Ray Bradbury's quote captures a moment of awe and self-reflection when he encounters his own writing. It emphasizes the unexpected joy and amazement that can come from revisiting one's creations, highlighting the deep connection between the author and their work. This experience can lead to insights about personal growth and the evolution of artistic expression over time.
In practice
During a writer's retreat, one might use this quote to inspire others to reflect on their own works.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we canβt imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You donβt stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
You're betraying your whole life if you don't say what you think - and you don't say it honestly and bluntly.
Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.
Walden is the only book I own, although there are some others unclaimed on my shelves. Every man, I think, reads one book in his life, and this is mine. It is not the best book I ever encountered, perhaps, but it is for me the handiest, and I keep it about me in much the same way one carries a handkerchief - for relief in moments of defluxion or despair.
I have talked with great men, and I do not see how they differ from others.
Alas, I know if I ever became truly humble, I would be proud of it.
Integrity is not something that grownups have and adolescents can aspire to. Integrity is something that all of us, at all ages, are constantly striving for.
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