#rite

All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right-about-face which turns us from failure towards success. ~Dorothea Brande ↗

— Dorothea Brande

#writers #writing #inspirational

The Massalians are not dualists but monarchians, and they have dealings with the infernal powers, and in fact some texts call them Borborites, from borboros, filth, because of the unspeakable things they do." "What do they do?" "The usual unspeakable things. Men and women hold in the palm of their hand, and raise to heaven, their own ignominy, namely, sperm or menstruum, then eat it, calling it the Body of Christ. And if by chance a woman is made pregnant, at the opportune moment they stick a hand into her womb, pull out the embryo, throw it into a mortar, mix in some honey and pepper, and gobble it up." "How revolting, honey and pepper!" Diotallevi said. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#transubstantiation #men

Why would I ever write a book that made one person feel free when I can write something that will help thousands be free? ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#inspiration #writers #writing #inspirational

If a book is not alive in the writer's mind, it is as dead as year-old horse-shit ↗

— Stephen King

#book #inspire #stephen-king #writer #inspirational

The biographies of the great men see their excesses as signs of their greatness. But Jean Rhys, in her biography, is read as borderline; Anaïs Nin is borderline; Djuna is borderline; etc. etc. Borderline personality disorder being an overwhelmingly gendered diagnosis. I write in Heroines: “The charges of borderline personality disorder are the same charges against girls writing literature, I realize—too emotional, too impulsive, no boundaries. ↗

— Kate Zambreno

#women-writers #men

The very persons who have taken away my time and space are those who have given me something to say. ↗

— Katherine Paterson

#inspirational #resources #writers-on-writing #writing #inspirational

The usual picture of Socrates is of an ugly little plebeian who inspired a handsome young nobleman to write long dialogues on large topics. ↗

— Richard Rorty

#handsome #inspired #large #little #long

You connect yourself to the viewer by by sharing something that is inside of you that connects with something inside of him. All you have as your guide is that you know what moves you. ↗

— Steven Brust

#writing #writing-inspiration #inspirational

My job as a poet, is not to succumb to despair but to find in words, an antidote for the emptiness of existence. ↗

— Michelle Geaney

#life #poets #writers #inspirational

Words can't describe... shouldn't be in a writer's vocabulary. ↗

— Mary M. Forbes

#inspirational #inspirational