Writing, at least a craft and at its best an art, aspiring to the unique, is the most difficult to learn. — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper not eternal bronze: Let that first sentence be as stupid… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
Bad writing, it is easily verified, has never kept scholarship from being published. — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
Grab a pen and put down some words - your name even - and a title: something to see, to revise, to… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
“The root difficulty in all cases was the state of being blind and deaf to words-- not seeing the words for the… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
Let us face a pluralistic world in which there are no universal churches, no single remedy for all diseases, no one way… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
“We are thus led to ask what the writer looks for and how he trains himself to look for it. The answer… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
“We hear them continually on TV: hence they occur first when it is our turn to talk. In this regard, talk may… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
One great aim of revision is to cut out. In the exuberance of composition it is natural to throw in - as… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
I can only think that the book is read because it deals with the difficulties of schooling, which do not change. Please… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share Image
The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
It seems a long time since the morning mail could be called correspondence. — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
The reason why research is like sculpting from memory is that in neither is there a concrete visible subject to copy directly. The subject… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
Everybody keeps calling for Excellence - excellence not just in schooling, throughout society. But as soon as somebody or something stands out as Excellent,… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
Bernard Shaw remains the only model we have of what the citizen of a democracy should be: an informed participant in all things we… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
The ascetic is often a sensualist who has reached the limit of his capacity. — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
Idealism springs from deep feelings, but feelings are nothing without the formulated idea that keeps them whole. — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
The mind tends to run along the groove of one's intention and overlook the actual expression. — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
Vanity is a static thing. It puts it faith in what it has, and is easily wounded. Pride is active, and satisfied only with… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
By the time I was 9, I had the conviction that everybody in the world was an artist except plumbers or people who delivered groceries. — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
A student under my care owes his first allegiance to himself and not to my specialty; and must not be burdened with my work… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
We are accustomed to the artist scoundrel or specialist in vice, and unaccustomed to the creator in whom passion and reason and moral integrity… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
The professionals resemble and recognize each other by virtue of the stigmata that their trade has left upon them. They are like the dog… — Jacques Barzun Copy Share
