Mary Oliver Quotes
I worked probably 25 years by myself, just writing and working, not trying to publish much, not giving readings.
Quotes to Explore
-
Of course, giving is deeply emotional. But supplementing emotion with research makes it more likely that a gift can have a bigger impact. It's like any investment. After all, you wouldn't put funds into stocks or bonds without understanding the potential return. Why wouldn't you do the same when investing in society?
-
I read my books to writing workshops and friends, and I'm often focussed just on keeping them entertained. I never think about marketing at all.
-
I know how to make a record that commercial radio or Triple J will smash now... It's kind of hard to stay true and write what you would write if you didn't have that in your head. Because I know I can get way more airplay and get this much bigger... and that's what I'm trying to avoid doing. Trying to avoid the poisons of success.
-
Politicians are trying to attract people to issues.
-
I was going to try to get into the creative writing program at Berkeley; it's just that the acting thing worked out.
-
Writing for the theater, you find yourself living a nocturnal life.
-
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they cook for other people is to think that it has to be fancy and elaborate. This results in enormous expense and nine days of labor, plus you end up trying to assemble a croquembouche in front of your guests and everyone's experiencing flop sweat.
-
Special-interest magazines are dangerous places for writers to start out in because the writing quickly falls into a routine and people are likely to find themselves artistically exhausted when they want to work on something of their own.
-
To be honest, I've made a game out of trying to live through my James Dean, Janis Joplin, Freddie Prinze, Jim Morrison period, those demons that we all have that we're either successful or not at making work for us rather than destroy us.
-
When I'm writing, I spend all my time in The Grocer on Elgin buying ready-made meals; I think they are the only reason my husband and kids haven't left me.
-
There are few cases in which mere popularity should be considered a proper test of merit; but the case of song-writing is, I think, one of the few.
-
If you know your characters well enough, you aren't trying to grasp for storylines. You're really thinking about their flaws and their passions and what they're chasing.
-
I think I didn't know whether I wanted to keep acting deep into my career. I kept trying to see if I would be able to do it well enough to make that part of my destiny or part of what I was supposed to do.
-
Only children are weird. The only children I know, including myself, are either superweird or very talented and special or a mix of the two. I think there was always a certain independence and loneliness - I had a lot of imaginary friends as a kid.
-
Giving is an expression of gratitude for our blessings.
-
I was already writing 'The Lost Symbol' when I started to realize 'The Da Vinci Code' would be big. The thing that happened to me and must happen to any writer who's had success is that I temporarily became very self-aware.
-
Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece.
-
Only you know your circumstances, your energy level, the needs of your children, and the emotional demands of your other obligations. Be wise during intensive seasons of your life. Cherish your agency, and don’t give it away casually. Don’t compare yourself to others — nearly always this will make you despondent. Don’t accept somebody else’s interpretation of how you should be spending your time. Make the best decision you can and then evaluate it to see how it works.
-
That sense of mystery, but also of revelation, is what I turn to poems for. They're able to embody experience. We need more and more of that.
-
I have several different masks that I wear.
-
Love is the only gold.
-
American workers need a common-sense plan to make small businesses and entrepreneurs competitive again - not simply more government spending.
-
I worked probably 25 years by myself, just writing and working, not trying to publish much, not giving readings.
