--- title: "4 Creative writing Quotes By Richard Hugo" description: "4 Creative writing quotes by Richard Hugo. Plus more from Richard Hugo and more Creative writing sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e2/richard-hugo-14365_bad-politics_i-ve-seen-the-world-tell-us-with-wars-an_303273.jpg" --- > [“…I’ve seen the world tell us with wars and real estate developments and bad politics and odd court decisions that our lives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/i-ve-seen-the-world-tell-us-with-wars-and-real-estate-developments/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e2/richard-hugo-14365_bad-politics_i-ve-seen-the-world-tell-us-with-wars-an_303273.jpg) > [A creative writing class may be one of the last places you can go where your life still matters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/a-creative-writing-class-may-be-one-of-the-last-places-you-can-go/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b21/richard-hugo-14365_class_a-creative-writing-class-may-be-one-of-t_499152.png) > [A good creative-writing teacher can save a good writer a lot of time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/a-good-creative-writing-teacher-can-save-a-good-writer-a-lot-of-time/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26d/richard-hugo-14365_creative_a-good-creative-writing-teacher-can-save_633899.png) > [“I caution against communication because once language exist only to convey information, it is dying. In news articles the relation of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/i-caution-against-communication-because-once-language-exist-only-to/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc0/richard-hugo-14365_communication_i-caution-against-communication-because_1080611.jpg) ## Other authors on Creative writing - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-amit-kalantri-279.jpg) Amit Kalantri 87 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-writing/amit-kalantri/) - [Kilroy J. Oldster 10 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-writing/kilroy-j-oldster/) - [Ralph Waldo Emerson 8 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-writing/ralph-waldo-emerson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b015/author-kurt-vonnegut-58049.jpg) Kurt Vonnegut 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-writing/kurt-vonnegut/) - [Kamand Kojouri 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-writing/kamand-kojouri/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-aberjhani-8924.jpg) Aberjhani 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-writing/aberjhani/) ## More by Richard Hugo > [“there’s too many people in here. If I had my way, I’d have nothing but young chicks, the innocent ones you can teach something.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/there-s-too-many-people-in-here-if-i-had-my-way-i-d-have-nothing-but/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [I will garden on the double run, my rhythm obvious in the ringing rakes, and trust in fate to keep me poor and kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/i-will-garden-on-the-double-run-my-rhythm-obvious-in-the-ringing/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [“I fear, trying to improve human nature.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/i-fear-trying-to-improve-human-nature/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [A poet is seldom hard up for advice. The worst part of it all is that sometimes the advice is coming from other poets,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/a-poet-is-seldom-hard-up-for-advice-the-worst-part-of-it-all-is-that/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [...an imagined town is at least as real as an actual town. If it isn't, you may be in the wrong business. Our words…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/an-imagined-town-is-at-least-as-real-as-an-actual-town-if-it-isn-t/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [“The imagination is a cynic.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/the-imagination-is-a-cynic/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [“…I’ve seen the world tell us with wars and real estate developments and bad politics and odd court decisions that our lives don’t matter.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/i-ve-seen-the-world-tell-us-with-wars-and-real-estate-developments/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [An act of imagination is an act of self-acceptance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/an-act-of-imagination-is-an-act-of-self-acceptance/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [A creative writing class may be one of the last places you can go where your life still matters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/a-creative-writing-class-may-be-one-of-the-last-places-you-can-go/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [Maximum sentence length: seventeen words. Minimum:one No semicolons. Semicolons indicate relationships that only idiots need defined by punctuation. Besides, they are ugly. Make sure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/maximum-sentence-length-seventeen-words-minimum-one-no-semicolons/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [A good creative-writing teacher can save a good writer a lot of time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/a-good-creative-writing-teacher-can-save-a-good-writer-a-lot-of-time/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [“We won’t all disappear on a remote country road in the Monroe Valley, but like The Admiral and his wife we are all going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/we-won-t-all-disappear-on-a-remote-country-road-in-the-monroe-valley/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [“You might come here Sunday on a whim. Say your life broke down. The last good kiss you had was years ago. You walk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/you-might-come-here-sunday-on-a-whim-say-your-life-broke-down-the/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [Assuming you can write clear English sentences, give up all worry about communication. If you want to communicate, use the telephone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/assuming-you-can-write-clear-english-sentences-give-up-all-worry/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [Don't write love poems when you're in love. Write them when you're not in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/don-t-write-love-poems-when-you-re-in-love-write-them-when-you-re-not/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-writing/richard-hugo/#itemlist", "name": "4 Creative writing Quotes By Richard Hugo", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“…I’ve seen the world tell us with wars and real estate developments and bad politics and odd court decisions that our lives don’t matter. That may be because we are too many. Architecture and application form, modern life says that with so many of us we can best survive by ignoring identity and acting as it individual differences do not exist. Maybe the narcissism academics condemn in creative writers is but a last reaching for a kind of personal survival. Anyway, as a sound psychoanalyst once remarked to me dryly, narcissism is difficult to avoid. 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In news articles the relation of the words to the subject is a strong one. The relation of the words to the writer is weak. (Since the majority of your reading has been newspapers, you are used to seeing language function this way). When you write a poem these relations must reverse themselves: The relation of the word to the subject must weaken – the relation of the words to the writer (you) must take on strength. This is probably the hardest thing about writing poems In a poem you make something up, say for example a town, but an imagined town is at least as real as an actual town. If it isn’t you may be in the wrong business. Our triggering subjects, like our words, come from obsessions we must submit to, whatever the social cost. It can be hard. It can be worse 40 years from now if you feel you could have done it and didn’t. RICHARD HUGO Public versus private poets: With public poets the intellectual and emotional contents of the words are the same for the reader as for the writer. With the private poet, the words, at least certain key words, mean something to the poet they don’t mean to the reader. A sensitive reader perceives this relation of poet to word and in a way that relation – the strange way the poet emotionally possesses his vocabulary – is one of the mysteries and preservative forces of the art. If you are a private poet, then your vocabulary is limited by your obsessions. In fact, most poets write the same poem over and over. (Wallace Stevens was honest enough not to try to hide it. 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