--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I don't really think that writers, even…" description: "\"I don't really think that writers, even great writers, are prophets, or sages, or Messiah-like figures; writing is a lonely, sedentary occupation and a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aba/angela-carter-1237_afternoon_i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-g_3232972.jpg" --- # I don't really think that writers, even great writers, are… ![“I don't really think that writers, even great writers, are prophets, or sages, or Messiah-like figures; writing is a lonely, sedentary occupation and a touch of megalomania can be comforting around five on a November afternoon when you haven't seen anybody all day.” quote by Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aba/angela-carter-1237_afternoon_i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-g_3232972.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aba/angela-carter-1237_afternoon_i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-g_3232972.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aba/angela-carter-1237_afternoon_i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-g_3232972.jpg) > “I don't really think that writers, even great writers, are prophets, or sages, or Messiah-like figures; writing is a lonely, sedentary occupation and a touch of megalomania can be comforting around five on a November afternoon when you haven't seen anybody all day.” [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writing is solitary, often egotistical, yet offers comfort in isolation. **In simple terms:** Writing is lonely but comforting. Key Takeaway Accept solitude as part of creative work. Themes creativity solitude ego Mood introspective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - author workshops - creative retreats - late‑night writing sessions Key Concepts literature psychology artistic process Questions to Reflect On - How does solitude influence your creative output? - When is ego beneficial in art? A Different Perspective Isolation can hinder collaboration. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Comforting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comforting/) [Great writers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-writers/) [Lonely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lonely/) [Megalomania](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/megalomania/) [Messiah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/messiah/) [November](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/november/) [Occupation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/occupation/) [Prophet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prophet/) [Sage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sage/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writers/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Writers who do great work must be coddled and encouraged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-domenech/writers-who-do-great-work-must-be-coddled-and-encouraged/) [Ben Domenech](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-domenech/) > [There are two kinds of writers; the great ones who can give you truths, and the lessor ones, who can only give you themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/there-are-two-kinds-of-writers-the-great-ones-who-can-give-you-truths/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) > [I was a pretty good fighter. But it was the writers who made me great.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-dempsey/i-was-a-pretty-good-fighter-but-it-was-the-writers-who-made-me-great/) [Jack Dempsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-dempsey/) > [My job is to get people to write something truthful, something about truth and beauty - wherever they are - and to understand how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/my-job-is-to-get-people-to-write-something-truthful-something-about/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [There are writers who are great visionaries, who can depict huge movements - things like that. They're the great writers. I'm just the other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/there-are-writers-who-are-great-visionaries-who-can-depict-huge/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [My favourite writers are always great storytellers, like Bruce Springsteen; I adore Bruce Springsteen. I feel like he doesn't beat around the bush, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-fender/my-favourite-writers-are-always-great-storytellers-like-bruce/) [Sam Fender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-fender/) > [And I have the support of the writers: I have a great relationship with the creative team, and they have a good hold of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trish-stratus/and-i-have-the-support-of-the-writers-i-have-a-great-relationship/) [Trish Stratus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trish-stratus/) > [While reading writers of great formulatory power — Henry James, Santayana, Proust — I find I can scarcely get through a page without having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-epstein/while-reading-writers-of-great-formulatory-power-henry-james/) [Joseph Epstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-epstein/) > [The great leaders of business, industry and finance, and the great artists, poets, musicians and writers all became great because they developed the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-hill/the-great-leaders-of-business-industry-and-finance-and-the-great/) [Napoleon Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-hill/) > [Writers are always a great nuisance to publishers. If they could do without them, they would.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/writers-are-always-a-great-nuisance-to-publishers-if-they-could-do/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [I'm sure there are writers who are great businessmen, but I never met any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-miller/i-m-sure-there-are-writers-who-are-great-businessmen-but-i-never-met/) [Arthur Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-miller/) > [“The great leaders of business, industry, finance, and the great artists, musicians, poets, and writers became great, because they developed the faculty of creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-hill/the-great-leaders-of-business-industry-finance-and-the-great-artists/) [Napoleon Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-hill/) > [“Not all great writers may seem great to us, regardless of how often and how hard we try to see their virtues. I know,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francine-prose/not-all-great-writers-may-seem-great-to-us-regardless-of-how-often/) [Francine Prose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francine-prose/) > [Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-sorkin/good-writers-borrow-from-other-writers-great-writers-steal-from-them/) [Aaron Sorkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-sorkin/) > [Writing is an expression of the writer's own peculiar personality, could not help being so. Yet in reading great works one feels that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/writing-is-an-expression-of-the-writer-s-own-peculiar-personality/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) ## More by Angela Carter > [He was a lovely man in many ways. But he kept on insisting on forgiving me when there was nothing to forgive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/he-was-a-lovely-man-in-many-ways-but-he-kept-on-insisting-on/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/reading-a-book-is-like-re-writing-it-for-yourself/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [Losing their names, these things underwent a process of uncreation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/losing-their-names-these-things-underwent-a-process-of-uncreation/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [I know that whenever a group of women are gathered together, the grandmother always makes a phantom appearance, hovering above them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/i-know-that-whenever-a-group-of-women-are-gathered-together-the/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [“She herself is a haunted house. She does not possess herself; her ancestors sometimes come and peer out of the window of her eyes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/she-herself-is-a-haunted-house-she-does-not-possess-herself-her/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [Hollywood... was the place where the United States perpetrated itself as a universal dream and put the dream into mass production.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/hollywood-was-the-place-where-the-united-states-perpetrated-itself-as/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [Is not this whole world an illusion? And yet it fools everybody.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/is-not-this-whole-world-an-illusion-and-yet-it-fools-everybody/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [My paternal grandmother would not light a fire on the Sabbath and piled all Sunday's washing-up in a bucket, to be dealt with on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/my-paternal-grandmother-would-not-light-a-fire-on-the-sabbath-and/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [“Mother goddesses are just as silly a notion as father gods. If a revival of the myths of these cults gives woman emotional satisfaction,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/mother-goddesses-are-just-as-silly-a-notion-as-father-gods-if-a/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [Out of the frying pan into the fire! What is marriage but prostitution to one man instead of many? No different!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire-what-is-marriage-but-prostitution/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [And each stroke of his tongue ripped off skin after successive skin, all the skins of a life in the world, and left behind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/and-each-stroke-of-his-tongue-ripped-off-skin-after-successive-skin/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [In a secular age, an authentic miracle must purport to be a hoax, in order to gain credit in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/in-a-secular-age-an-authentic-miracle-must-purport-to-be-a-hoax-in/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [We do not go to bed in single pairs; even if we choose not to refer to them, we still drag there with us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/we-do-not-go-to-bed-in-single-pairs-even-if-we-choose-not-to-refer-to/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [I see her as a series of marvellous shapes formed at random in the kaleidoscope of desire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/i-see-her-as-a-series-of-marvellous-shapes-formed-at-random-in-the/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [“Women do not normally fuck in the active sense. They are fucked in the passive tense and hence automatically fucked-up, done over, undone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/women-do-not-normally-fuck-in-the-active-sense-they-are-fucked-in-the/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) [Explore all 263 Angela Carter quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) ## More Afternoon quotes > [I didn't grow up thinking of movies as film, or art, but as movies, something to do on a Saturday afternoon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-pollack/i-didn-t-grow-up-thinking-of-movies-as-film-or-art-but-as-movies/) [Sydney Pollack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-pollack/) > [My dental hygienist is cute. Every time I visit, I eat a whole package of Oreo cookies while waiting in the lobby. Sometimes she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-wright/my-dental-hygienist-is-cute-every-time-i-visit-i-eat-a-whole-package/) [Steven Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-wright/) > [Honestly, I'm living my fantasy. It's being with my family, preferably on a snowy afternoon with a fire going, cuddled up in blankets, playing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meredith-vieira/honestly-i-m-living-my-fantasy-it-s-being-with-my-family-preferably/) [Meredith Vieira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meredith-vieira/) > [It was a very intense and stressful situation. There was playing in the Johnny-pump (an opened fire hydrant) and the ice-cream man coming around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-z/it-was-a-very-intense-and-stressful-situation-there-was-playing-in/) [Jay-Z](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-z/) > [Sunday afternoon is for papers and writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-haslam/sunday-afternoon-is-for-papers-and-writing/) [Nicholas Haslam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-haslam/) > [I think that if most guys in America could somehow get their fave-rave poster girl in bed and have total license to do whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lester-bangs/i-think-that-if-most-guys-in-america-could-somehow-get-their-fave/) [Lester Bangs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lester-bangs/) > [“If you come at four in the afternoon, I'll begin to be happy by three.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/if-you-come-at-four-in-the-afternoon-i-ll-begin-to-be-happy-by-three/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [At five in the afternoon. It was exactly five in the afternoon. A boy brought the white sheet at five in the afternoon. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/at-five-in-the-afternoon-it-was-exactly-five-in-the-afternoon-a-boy/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The shadows in the early morning don't tell much. The shadows rest at that time. So it's useless to gaze very early in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-castaneda/the-shadows-in-the-early-morning-don-t-tell-much-the-shadows-rest-at/) [Carlos Castaneda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-castaneda/) > [“I discovered windows one afternoon and after that, nothing was ever the same.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-spollen/i-discovered-windows-one-afternoon-and-after-that-nothing-was-ever/) [Anne Spollen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-spollen/) > [Look, science is hard, it has a reputation of being hard, and the facts are, it is hard, and that's the result of 400…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-shostak/look-science-is-hard-it-has-a-reputation-of-being-hard-and-the-facts/) [Seth Shostak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-shostak/) > [What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon? And the day after that, and the next thirty years?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/what-ll-we-do-with-ourselves-this-afternoon-and-the-day-after-that/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [Imagine you are walking down a leafy path…The sun is receding, and you are walking alone, caressed by the breezy light of the late…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/azar-nafisi/imagine-you-are-walking-down-a-leafy-path-the-sun-is-receding-and-you/) [Azar Nafisi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/azar-nafisi/) > [A good umpire is the umpire you don't even notice. He's there all afternoon but when the game is over, you don't even remember…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ban-johnson/a-good-umpire-is-the-umpire-you-don-t-even-notice-he-s-there-all/) Ban Johnson > [Sometimes in the afternoon sky the moon would pass white as a cloud, furtive, lusterless, like an actress who does not have to perform…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/sometimes-in-the-afternoon-sky-the-moon-would-pass-white-as-a-cloud/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) Browse all 1,085 Afternoon quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I don't really think that writers, even great writers, are prophets, or sages, or Messiah-like figures; writing is a lonely, sedentary occupation and a touch of megalomania can be comforting around five on a November afternoon when you haven't seen anybody all day.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Angela Carter" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-great-writers-are-prophets-or/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Afternoon" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-great-writers-are-prophets-or/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aba/angela-carter-1237_afternoon_i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-g_3232972.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aba/angela-carter-1237_afternoon_i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-g_3232972.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aba/angela-carter-1237_afternoon_i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-g_3232972.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I don't really think that writers, even great writers, are prophets, or sages, or Messiah-like figures…” — Angela Carter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Angela Carter", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I don't really think that writers,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-great-writers-are-prophets-or/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/i-don-t-really-think-that-writers-even-great-writers-are-prophets-or/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```