Word to the wise

I have been collecting quotations about writing again and now have enough to share. Enjoy!

Katherine Mansfield: "I have a rapacious appetite for everything and principles as light as my purse."

William Safire: "Composition is a discipline; it forces us to think. If you want to 'get in touch with your feelings,' fine — talk to yourself; we all do. But, if you want to communicate with another thinking human being, get in touch with your thoughts. Put them in order; give them a purpose; use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce. The secret way to do this is to write it down and then cut out the confusing parts."

Walker Evans: "Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long."

Aryn Kyle: "I can only loaf around for so long before I start to feel pent-up and anxious, before I feel a skittish energy begin to build inside of me, and then I know it's time to get back to work."

John Callahan: "I'm happiest when I'm offensive. I have a desire to tear people in half. I want to move people out of the suburbs of their mind. I want them to suffer, to feel something real. I have a lot of anger. I want to hurt people. At least a little."