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The writer's duty is to keep on writing.
William Styron
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Writers must persist in their craft regardless of circumstances.

This quote emphasizes the essential responsibility of a writer to continue their work no matter the challenges or obstacles they face. It underscores the commitment required to sustain a creative practice and highlights the importance of perseverance in the literary world.

Themes

WritingDutyPerseveranceCommitmentCreativity

In practice

Example use cases

This quote would be perfect for a writers' workshop to encourage participants.

More from William Styron

The madness of depression is, generally speaking, the antithesis of violence. It is a storm indeed, but a storm of murk. Soon evident are the slowed-down responses, near paralysis, psychic energy throttled back close to zero. Ultimately, the body is affected and feels sapped, drained.
William StyronRead
my brain had begun to endure its familiar siege: panic and dislocation, and a sense that my thought processes were being engulfed by a toxic and unnameable tide that obliterated any enjoyable response to the living world.
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The pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it.
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This was not judgment day - only morning. Morning: excellent and fair.
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In depression . . . faith in deliverance, in ultimate restoration, is absent. The pain is unrelenting, and what makes the condition intolerable is the foreknowledge that no remedy will come - - not in a day, an hour, a month, or a minute . . . It is hopelessness even more than pain that crushes the soul.
William StyronRead
Writing is a fine therapy for people who are perpetually scared of nameless threats... for jittery people.
William StyronRead

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