A nation that values bad philosophy above good plumbing will have neither good philosophy nor good plumbing — John Gardner Bad ideas Copy Share Image
One should fight like the devil the temptation to think well of editors. They are all, without exception - at least some… — John Gardner Crazy Copy Share Image
“Yes! Clumly had thought. There it was. Whatever it meant, spiritualistic trash for old ladies or the roaring secret of life and… — John Gardner Death Copy Share Image
To be human is inevitably, to hate oneself sometimes, to hunger for the perfect stability and in a way the perfect justice… — John Gardner Death Copy Share Image
“Where the realist would say, "One day Gregor Samsa woke up to the realization that he was like a cockroach," the expressionist… — John Gardner Realist Copy Share Image
Self pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from… — John Gardner Addiction Copy Share Image
All order, I've come to understand, is theoretical, unreal, a harmless, sensible, smiling mask men slide between the two great, dark realities,… — John Gardner Illusion Copy Share Image
“He had glimpsed a glorious ideal, had struggled toward it and seized it and come to understand it, and was disappointed. One… — John Gardner Idealism Copy Share Image
A common and usually unfortunate answer is “Write about what you know.” Nothing can be more limiting to the imagination, nothing is… — John Gardner Imagination Copy Share Image
We know that where community exists in confers upon its members identity, a sense of belonging, and a measure of security. .… — John Gardner Belonging Copy Share Image
“I waited for him to find an answer. Minutes passed. It came to me that he had quit. He had glimpsed a… — John Gardner Mind Copy Share Image
“A profound theme is of trifling importance if the characters knocked around by it are uninteresting, and brilliant technique is a nuisance… — John Gardner Deep Copy Share Image
“Theology does not thrive in the world of action and reaction, change: it grows on calm, like the scum on a stagnant… — John Gardner Action and reaction Copy Share Image
“The question one asks of the young writer who wants to know if he's got what it takes is this: "Is writing… — John Gardner Novelist Copy Share Image
“As in the universe every atom has an effect, however miniscule, on every other atom, so that to pinch the fabric of… — John Gardner Time Copy Share Image
“What the best fiction does is make powerful affirmations of familiar truths...the trivial fiction which times filters out is that which either… — John Gardner Fiction Copy Share Image
“A scene will not be vivid if the writer gives too few details to stir and guide the reader's imagination; neither will… — John Gardner Books Copy Share Image
“What the young writer needs to develop, to achieve his goal of becoming a great artist, is not a set of aesthetic… — John Gardner Art Copy Share Image
“Sentimentality, in all its forms, is the attempt to get some effect without providing due cause. (I take it for granted that… — John Gardner Sentimentality Copy Share Image
“The instruction here is not for every kind of writer - not for the writer of nurse books or thrillers or porno… — John Gardner Authors Copy Share Image
“Like other kinds of intelligence, the storyteller's is partly natural, partly trained. It is composed of several qualities, most of which, in… — John Gardner Dirty joke Copy Share Image
“The writer's characters must stand before us with a wonderful clarity, such continuous clarity that nothing they do strikes us as improbable… — John Gardner Character Copy Share Image
“I think there really is no other way to write a long, serious novel. You work, shelve it for a while, work,… — John Gardner Books Copy Share Image
“Another irritant is accidental rhyme, as in the sentence "When the rig blew, everything went flying sky-high--me too." Notice here that the… — John Gardner Blew Copy Share Image
“True artists, whatever smiling faces they may show you, are obsessive, driven people—whether driven by some mania or driven by some high,… — John Gardner Art Copy Share Image
“There is some realm where feelings become birds and dark sky, and spirit is more solid than stone.” — John Gardner Dark sky Copy Share Image
“Stars, spattered out through lifeless night from end to end, like jewels scattered in a dead king's grave, tease, torment my wits… — John Gardner Astronomy Copy Share Image
When I was a child I truly loved: Unthinking love as calm and deep As the North Sea. But I have lived,… — John Gardner Calm Copy Share Image
“Where religious values might be relative, intellectual values fleeting, moral values ambiguous, and aesthetic values dependent upon an observer, the existence of… — John Gardner Moral values Copy Share Image
“...{N}othing is harder for the developing writer than overcoming his anxiety that he is fooling himself and cheating or embarrassing his family… — John Gardner Family Copy Share Image
“As a general rule, highly rational writers (like Nabokov) write most comfortably in the morning, and mainly intuitive writers write most comfortably… — John Gardner Morning Copy Share Image
“All to often, on the long road up, young leaders become servants of what is rather than shapers of what might be.” — John Gardner Conformity Copy Share Image
“He could forget all these people, just like that, become fond again of strangers and leave them too.” — John Gardner Forget Copy Share Image
“Two things can keep the common reader going, argument or story. (Both are always involved, however subtly, in good fiction.)” — John Gardner Books Copy Share Image
By the time you've run your mind through it a hundred times, relentlessly worked out every tic of terror, it's lost its… — John Gardner Psychology Copy Share Image
“As in the universe every atom has an effect, however minuscule, on every other atom, so that to pinch the fabric of… — John Gardner Character Copy Share Image
“They only think they think. No total vision, total system, merely schemes with a vague family resemblance, no more identity than bridges… — John Gardner Dreams Copy Share Image
“It is for this reason that Aristotle recommends that the writer begin "in the middle of things" and fill in the exposition… — John Gardner Aristotle Copy Share Image
“The writer sensitive to language finds his own metaphors, not simply because he has been taught to avoid clichés but because he… — John Gardner Metaphor Copy Share Image
“No fiction can have real interest if the central character is not an agent struggling for his or her own goals but… — John Gardner Failure Copy Share Image
