Out in the world not much happened. But here in the special night, a land bricked with paper and leather anything might happen, always did.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the transformative power of imagination in a creative environment.
Ray Bradbury evokes a sense of wonder and limitless possibilities within the creative space he describes. While the external world may seem unchanging and mundane, the 'special night' represents a realm where creativity thrives, and anything can spring to life from the depths of imagination, symbolized by the 'land bricked with paper and leather.' This highlights the importance of artistic expression and the boundless nature of creativity as a sanctuary away from the ordinary.
In practice
This quote can be shared at an art exhibition to inspire young artists.
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.
Drawing is not following a line on the model, it is drawing your sense of the thing.
Storytellers all, we humans might run out of time even as we triumph over the problem of running out of space. But we will never run out of stories.
We Orientals find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and darkness which that thing provides.
There are so many separate selves; no one who writes creatively hasn't felt that.
Sometimes you have to go places with characters and emotions within yourself you don't want to do, but you have a duty to the story and as a storyteller to do it.
To sing means to sense and to affirm that the spirit is real and that its glory is present.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.