Alice Notley Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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Revision is the heart of writing. Every page I do is done over seven or eight times.
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When you're writing a book, you don't really think about it critically. You don't want to know too well what you're doing. First, you write the book, then you find the justification for it.
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The correctness and quality of what you write do not matter; the act of writing does.
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I think that the idea that I'm writing for many more people than I ever imagined has created a certain general responsibility that is literary and political. There's even pride involved, in not wanting to fall short of what I did before.
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I can ask for a £25,000 advance, but then you spend a year writing the book, and £25,000 is a loan against sales, and you can easily spend five years earning out. So that's £25,000 for six years.
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I have yet to see a piece of writing, political or non-political, that doesn't have a slant. All writing slants the way a writer leans, and no man is born perpendicular, although many men are born upright.
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Whatever's going on with me at the time of writing is going to find its way into the piece. If that doesn't happen, then what the hell am I doing? So if I'm writing 'Inglourious Basterds,' and I'm in love with a girl and we break up, that's going to find its way into the piece.
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Poetry and beauty are always making peace. When you read something beautiful you find coexistence; it breaks walls down.
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My favorite thing in life is writing about life, specifically the parts of life concerning love. Because, as far as I'm concerned, love is absolutely everything.
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I always joke that my kids' favorite holiday is Father's Day. They love the way I celebrate the occasion by writing each of them a thank-you letter and a generous check. It's my way of letting them know how much I appreciate the great pleasure and privilege of being their dad.
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I made a decision when I started writing 'All is Song' to take the compliments I had for 'The Wilderness' and try to be confident and not overwhelmed by it.
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I would love to continue acting. Maybe one day I would like to try writing and directing.
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Whether it's writing songs, being on stage, being interviewed, meeting fans - I just try to be myself, which is kind of exhausting because it almost feels like it never shuts off.
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I think without writing I would feel completely useless.
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I believe in the power of poetry, which gives me reasons to look ahead and identify a glint of light.
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To make the record, we now push a pencil or tap a typewriter. Then comes the process of digestion and correction, followed by an intricate process of typesetting, printing, and distribution. To consider the first stage of the procedure, will the author of the future cease writing by hand or typewriter and talk directly to the record?
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Concrete poetry began for me with the extraordinary sense that the syntax I had been using , the movement of language within me, af a physical level was no longer there. So it had to be replaced with something else with a syntax and movement that would be true of this new feeling.
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Try to be in as many relationships as you can.
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I'm fanatical about movies: African, European, Viking, Roman. I got into witchcraft and magic from watching 'Bewitched' and 'The Wizard of Oz,' which shows in some of my outfits. I dress to reflect the whole spectrum of the universe.
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I'd tell any girl who continues to love gymnastics enough to want pursue a college scholarship to keep pushing yourself 100% in the gym every single day.
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All things change, creeds and philosophies and outward systems - but God remains.
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I don't know, but I do think that everyone has a story to tell. The question is, can they find the voice and the confidence to tell it? We lack the encouragement as young people to believe this; we very often think that writing is for clever people, which it isn't.
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We did some promotion work in small European clubs last summer and really enjoyed it. It gives people the chance to see you up close. We see all venues as a different challenge and we have songs that can work in all environments, even if we have to change the arrangements.
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Writing poetry is what I am. I wouldn’t know what else to be.
