Writing is a lonely job. Even if a writer socializes regularly, when he gets down to the real business of his life, it is he and his type writer or word processor. No one else is or can be involved in the matter.
Interpretation
Writing is an intensely solitary activity, reflecting the personal struggle of the author despite any social interactions.
In this quote, Isaac Asimov emphasizes the solitary nature of writing, suggesting that the true creative work happens in isolation. Regardless of how often a writer interacts with others, when it comes time to create, the writer is alone, facing their thoughts and the blank page, highlighting the personal and often lonely nature of the craft.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a writing workshop to highlight the solitary nature of the craft.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
Screenplays I didn't really care about, journalism, travel books, getting my writer friends to write about their dreams or something. I just determined to write the books I had to write.
I have no desire to prove anything by dancing. I have never used it as an outlet or a means of expressing myself. I just dance. I just put my feet in the air and move them around.
The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God....Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices.
Most photographers seem to operate with a pane of glass between themselves and their subjects. They just can't get inside and know the subject.
From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity.
How many shows on TV do you see young black people, both women and men, really embody a full-fledged human being, flaws and all?
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