--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I want people who write to crash or dive…" description: "\"“I want people who write to crash or dive below the surface, where life is so cold and confusing and hard to see. Your anger and damage and grief are t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fc/anne-lamott-188_grief_i-want-people-who-write-to-crash-or-dive_205807.png" --- # I want people who write to crash or dive below the… ![“I want people who write to crash or dive below the surface, where life is so cold and confusing and hard to see. Your anger and damage and grief are the way to the truth.” quote by Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fc/anne-lamott-188_grief_i-want-people-who-write-to-crash-or-dive_205807.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fc/anne-lamott-188_grief_i-want-people-who-write-to-crash-or-dive_205807.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fc/anne-lamott-188_grief_i-want-people-who-write-to-crash-or-dive_205807.png) > ““I want people who write to crash or dive below the surface, where life is so cold and confusing and hard to see. Your anger and damage and grief are the way to the truth.”” [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author urges writers to plunge into deep, painful emotions, believing that confronting anger, damage, and grief reveals authentic truth. **In simple terms:** Writing through pain uncovers truth. Key Takeaway Embrace discomfort to discover deeper insight. Themes writing truth pain emotional depth creativity Mood introspective encouraging Type inspirational reflective When to use this quote - personal journal - creative workshop - therapy sessions Key Concepts psychology authenticity Questions to Reflect On - What boundaries protect mental health? - How does vulnerability affect audience reception? A Different Perspective Not all writers can handle intense suffering. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Damage Grief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/damage-grief-578774/) [Grief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) [Grief Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief-way-578773/) [Life Cold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-cold-439236/) [People Write](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-write/) [Write](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [But you can’t get to any of these truths by sitting in a field smiling beatifically, avoiding your anger and damage and grief. Your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/but-you-can-t-get-to-any-of-these-truths-by-sitting-in-a-field/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [And then she moved from shock to grief the way she might enter another room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/and-then-she-moved-from-shock-to-grief-the-way-she-might-enter/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [“There's grief and then there's the loneliness of grief. The way it's just yours and yours alone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/there-s-grief-and-then-there-s-the-loneliness-of-grief-the-way-it-s/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [Everyone deals with grief in their own way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-roe/everyone-deals-with-grief-in-their-own-way/) [Alex Roe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-roe/) > [“I now know pain is part of any journey- that this is the opposite of grief, but grief the only way I know to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-young/i-now-know-pain-is-part-of-any-journey-that-this-is-the-opposite-of/) [Kevin Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-young/) > [“He held onto his grief as a way to hold on to who he was grieving. He felt that his pain was his last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-norris/he-held-onto-his-grief-as-a-way-to-hold-on-to-who-he-was-grieving-he/) [Sean Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-norris/) > [First of all, a lot of people, a lot of women and men, have lost their children. I'm not the only one. But I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/afeni-shakur/first-of-all-a-lot-of-people-a-lot-of-women-and-men-have-lost-their/) [Afeni Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/afeni-shakur/) > [“crying by this time, but so was I, and I wasn’t ashamed. Grief had a way of sneaking up on a person. It lay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-barrett/crying-by-this-time-but-so-was-i-and-i-wasn-t-ashamed-grief-had-a-way/) [Linda Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-barrett/) > [“That time I thought I could not go any closer to grief without dying I went closer, and I did not die. Surely God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/that-time-i-thought-i-could-not-go-any-closer-to-grief-without-dying/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“You taught me that it’s possible to move forward in life, no matter how terrible your grief. And in your own way, you’ve made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-sparks/you-taught-me-that-it-s-possible-to-move-forward-in-life-no-matter/) [Nicholas Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-sparks/) > [“With time, grief has a way of slipping down in the crevices of your heart. It never really leaves; it just makes room for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-b-brewer/with-time-grief-has-a-way-of-slipping-down-in-the-crevices-of-your/) [Nancy B. Brewer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-b-brewer/) > [A Mind, Like A Home, Is Furnished By Its Owner. So If Ones Life Is Cold And Bare, He Can blame None But Only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pacifiersucker/a-mind-like-a-home-is-furnished-by-its-owner-so-if-ones-life-is-cold/) [Pacifiersucker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pacifiersucker/) > [Cold - cold as truth, cold as life. No, nothing can be as cold as life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rhys/cold-cold-as-truth-cold-as-life-no-nothing-can-be-as-cold-as-life/) [Jean Rhys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rhys/) > [Whether you're rich or poor, life's still cold-blooded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-james/whether-you-re-rich-or-poor-life-s-still-cold-blooded/) [Rick James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-james/) > [“But her life was as cold as an attic facing north; and boredom, like a silent spider, was weaving its web in the shadows,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/but-her-life-was-as-cold-as-an-attic-facing-north-and-boredom-like-a/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) ## More by Anne Lamott > [What an incredible drug fear is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/what-an-incredible-drug-fear-is/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [It's funny where we look for salvation, and where we actually find it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/it-s-funny-where-we-look-for-salvation-and-where-we-actually-find-it/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess over everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/why-couldn-t-jesus-command-us-to-obsess-over-everything-to-try-to/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [Publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/publication-is-not-all-that-it-is-cracked-up-to-be-but-writing-is/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/your-problem-is-how-you-are-going-to-spend-this-one-odd-and-precious/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [And yet, I do believe there is ultimately meaning in the chaos, and also in the doldrums. What I resist is not the truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/and-yet-i-do-believe-there-is-ultimately-meaning-in-the-chaos-and/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [Raising a child, whether or not it is yours, is like Nautilus of the heart and soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/raising-a-child-whether-or-not-it-is-yours-is-like-nautilus-of-the/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-heard-a-preacher-say-recently-that-hope-is-a-revolutionary-patience/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-think-perfectionism-is-based-on-the-obsessive-belief-that-if-you/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [All criticism hurts me. I'm so in the wrong business.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/all-criticism-hurts-me-i-m-so-in-the-wrong-business/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [We are going to die, as is everyone we adore - I hate this! But the question is, how do we live as women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/we-are-going-to-die-as-is-everyone-we-adore-i-hate-this-but-the/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“You will go through your life thinking there was a day in second grade that you must have missed, when the grown-ups came in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/you-will-go-through-your-life-thinking-there-was-a-day-in-second/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“You begin to string words together like beads to tell a story. You are desperate to communicate, to edify or entertain, to preserve moments…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/you-begin-to-string-words-together-like-beads-to-tell-a-story-you-are/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“You lose the known package of your nice organized self almost instantly here. Overeating is one way back, the way it is at funerals…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/you-lose-the-known-package-of-your-nice-organized-self-almost/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) [Explore all 976 Anne Lamott quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) ## More Grief quotes > [“...they had lived, they'd lived intensely. But no matter how deeply you live, it comes to this in the end: one of you will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-morton/they-had-lived-they-d-lived-intensely-but-no-matter-how-deeply-you/) [Brian Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-morton/) > [“You must understand the pain and grief of losing someone is nothing more than a function of survival.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-cooper/you-must-understand-the-pain-and-grief-of-losing-someone-is-nothing/) [Steven Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-cooper/) > [You felt a deep sorrow, the kind of melancholy you feel when you're in a beautiful place and the sun is going down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thrity-umrigar/you-felt-a-deep-sorrow-the-kind-of-melancholy-you-feel-when-you-re-in/) [Thrity Umrigar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thrity-umrigar/) > [... how much of our inner substance is it good for us to give to public griefs? The whole modern tendency to agonize over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-bogan/how-much-of-our-inner-substance-is-it-good-for-us-to-give-to-public/) [Louise Bogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-bogan/) > [You dont choose your life; it chooses you. Theres no point asking why life has reserved certain joys or griefs, you just accept them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/you-dont-choose-your-life-it-chooses-you-theres-no-point-asking-why/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“When we learn to attribute meaning to the events in our lives, we connect with our Higher Purpose, Higher Wisdom, or Source; we become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-barbara-apollon/when-we-learn-to-attribute-meaning-to-the-events-in-our-lives-we/) [Susan Barbara Apollon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-barbara-apollon/) > [Only to have a grief equal to all these tears!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/only-to-have-a-grief-equal-to-all-these-tears/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [Nowadays most people wear black most of the time anyway: go to a literary party and one would imagine everyone there was in perpetual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/nowadays-most-people-wear-black-most-of-the-time-anyway-go-to-a/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [Suppressed grief suffocates, it rages within the breast, and is forced to multiply its strength.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/suppressed-grief-suffocates-it-rages-within-the-breast-and-is-forced/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [That Woman is in love with her own grief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-zevin/that-woman-is-in-love-with-her-own-grief/) [Gabrielle Zevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-zevin/) > [Short time seems long in sorrow's sharp sustaining.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/short-time-seems-long-in-sorrow-s-sharp-sustaining/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [These days grief seems like walking on a frozen river; most of the time he feels safe enough, but there is always that danger…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-nicholls/these-days-grief-seems-like-walking-on-a-frozen-river-most-of-the/) [David Nicholls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-nicholls/) > [“You've been my beacon of light in my storm of grief, and I don't know if I could live without you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-ashley/you-ve-been-my-beacon-of-light-in-my-storm-of-grief-and-i-don-t-know/) [Katie Ashley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-ashley/) > [Ancient eyes had stared at me, filled with ancient grief. And something more. Something so alien and unexpected that I'd almost burst into tears.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/ancient-eyes-had-stared-at-me-filled-with-ancient-grief-and-something/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) [Browse all 8,012 Grief quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I want people who write to crash or dive below the surface, where life is so cold and confusing and hard to see. 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