When friendship disappears then there is a space left open to that awful loneliness of the outside world which is like the cold space between the planets. It is an air in which men perish utterly.
Hilaire BellocRead
Write as the wind blows and command all words like an army!
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the power of writing and the control a writer can exert over language.
Hilaire Belloc encourages writers to harness the natural flow of their creativity just as the wind flows freely. By likening words to an army, he suggests that writers should master their craft with discipline and intent, commanding their language to convey powerful and impactful messages.
In practice
This quote could be used to inspire aspiring authors in a writing workshop.
When friendship disappears then there is a space left open to that awful loneliness of the outside world which is like the cold space between the planets. It is an air in which men perish utterly.
From quiet homes and first beginning, out to the undiscovered ends, there's nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.
It has been discovered that with a dull urban population, all formed under a mechanical system of State education, a suggestion or command, however senseless and unreasoned, will be obeyed if it be sufficiently repeated.
An institute run with such knavish imbecility that if it were not the work of God it would not last a fortnight.
When I am dead, I hope it may be said: His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.
Every major question in history is a religious question. It has more effect in molding life than nationalism or a common language.
What I perceive in science fiction is that it's more about how everything looks than what's going on, which I think is just difficult if you're an action character. I think they are about character, not about what it looks like.
with poems one accomplishes so little when one writes them early. One should hold off and gather sense and sweetness a whole life long, a long life if possible, and then, right at the end, one could perhaps write ten lines that are good.
In a way, editing is not unlike the movies. The best books, just like the best movies, are a collaboration. They're only as good as the compromise made between the artists involved.
What interests me is the opportunity for all of us to become something different from what we are, by constructing spaces that contribute something to the experience of who we are.
Say what you mean. Say what you see. Make a photograph, if you can, for the reader.
I think the rhythm is like the spine of the piece. If you change that, then the body that forms around it is changed as well.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.