Collection of Quotes, part 2
Welcome to my fourteenth post in the Advent of Writing series.
This is part 2 of my fallback format. I’ve been collecting quotes on my phone since I was 15 or 16. Here I’m sharing a few fun and hopefully interesting ones with you. You can read part part 1 here.
If you have an umbrella up your ass, don’t open it.
Translation is mine, and it was originally delivered by Jonas Gardell. The moral of the story is: if you’re in trouble, don’t make it worse by doubling down. Instead, get out of the trouble.
To write is human, to edit is divine.
By Stephen King. During this Advent of Writing I’ve experienced this firsthand. It’s not that difficult to get something jotted down and write out your idea. But to edit, re-edit, again and again is the real work. Could I express this idea shorter, more succinctly? That’s the real work.
There’s more fiction written in excel than in books.
Shaan Puri. Next time someone comes with their business plan or spreadsheet calculations, apply salt.
If you’re arguing with a fool, he is probably doing the same
By Mikhail Zhvanetsky. There’s an idea here. I read it on Twitter/X a long time ago and can’t remember who wrote it. Two people have an argument, but before they actually start defending their positions, they have to explain them really well. In fact, so well that the opposing party is able to recite the other’s standpoint, and you confirm that this is indeed correct. You can only start debating once you both understand each other’s points well.
Likely this would avoid a lot of debates in the first place.
For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong
By H. L. Mencken. Now there’s a fine line: there are obviously many bad and simplistic takes about genuinely difficult problems. But at the same time, in the spirit of the midwit meme and fuck nuance, some things are made more complicated for gatekeeping or trying to sound smart, etc.
I still really like the quote. I’m not a fan of claiming simple “truths” about complex areas I’m not familiar with.
Truth is like poetry. And most people fucking hate poetry
Not sure this is actually attributed to any one person. Just a really good one-liner.
And lastly a wonderfully confusing and simulateously beautiful quote:
I, a universe of atoms, and atom in the universe
Richard Feynman
Today’s lesson is that once you start writing, things usually begin to flow. I thought for so long about what to write today, tried to prompt ChatGPT for good ideas, sparred with my wife for inspiration, and nothing seemed good. But once I sat down and started writing, the tension was gone, and I remembered that writing is actually quite fun.
Remember to enjoy your day!