"First, I do not sit down at..." - Quote by C S Lewis
First, I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it. We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.
More by C S Lewis
“The return from the walk, and the arrival of tea, should be exactly coincident, and not later than a quarter past four.”
“The real Oxford is a close corporation of jolly, untidy, lazy, good-for-nothing humorous old men, who have been electing their own successors ever since the world began and who intend to go on with it. They'll squeeze under the Revolution or leap over it when the time comes, don't you worry.”
“If we really think that home is elsewhere and that this life is a wandering to find home, why should we not look forward to the arrival?”
More on Writing
“My rule has been, so far as I could have any rule (I could have no cast-iron rule) - my rule has been, to write what I have to say the best way I can - then lay it aside - taking it up again after some time and reading it afresh - the mind new to it. If there's no jar in the new reading, well and good - that's sufficient for me.”
“As soon as your mind knows that it's on and it's supposed to produce some lines, either it doesn't or it produces things that are very predictable. And that's why I say I'm not interested in writing something that I thought about. I'm interested in discovering where my mind wants to go, or what object it wants to pick up.”
“Every story I've written was written because I had to write it. Writing stories is like breathing for me; it is my life.”
More on Understanding
“I'd say people get to work and start being more understanding of everybody - instead of calling everybody names, start being more understanding. But get in there and get it done. Kick ass and take names. And this may be my dad talking, but don't spend what you don't have.”
“Large skepticism leads to large understanding. Small skepticism leads to small understanding. No skepticism leads to no understanding.”
“The truly good gaze upon everything with love and understanding.”