--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I don't agree with the sentiment 'write…" description: "\"I don't agree with the sentiment 'write what you know.'... I think one should write what one doesn't know. The world is bigger and wider and more compl..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e2/cynthia-ozick-2945_agree_i-don-t-agree-with-the-sentiment-write-w_145290.png" --- # I don't agree with the sentiment 'write what you know.'… ![“I don't agree with the sentiment 'write what you know.'... I think one should write what one doesn't know. The world is bigger and wider and more complex than our small subjective selves. One should prod, goad the imagination.” quote by Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e2/cynthia-ozick-2945_agree_i-don-t-agree-with-the-sentiment-write-w_145290.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e2/cynthia-ozick-2945_agree_i-don-t-agree-with-the-sentiment-write-w_145290.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e2/cynthia-ozick-2945_agree_i-don-t-agree-with-the-sentiment-write-w_145290.png) > “I don't agree with the sentiment 'write what you know.'... I think one should write what one doesn't know. The world is bigger and wider and more complex than our small subjective selves. One should prod, goad the imagination.” [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Encourages writers to explore unknown topics, expanding imagination beyond personal experience. **In simple terms:** Write about what you don’t know. Key Takeaway Seek new perspectives. Themes creativity learning growth Mood inquisitive inspirational Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - fiction writing - research - journalism - education Key Concepts exploration curiosity Questions to Reflect On - What unknown subject intrigues you? - How can you responsibly learn before writing? A Different Perspective Risk of misrepresentation without proper understanding. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Sentiment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentiment/) [Subjective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subjective/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“I think you can write about what you know for about an hour and a half. Then you have to start bullshitting. So I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-m-homes/i-think-you-can-write-about-what-you-know-for-about-an-hour-and-a/) [A.M. Homes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-m-homes/) > [On the whole, I don't want to think too much about why I write what I write. If I know what I'm doing ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/on-the-whole-i-don-t-want-to-think-too-much-about-why-i-write-what-i/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I didn't feel like gymnastics were part of The Cars. I certainly philosophically didn't want to prod the audience to react to anything. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ric-ocasek/i-didn-t-feel-like-gymnastics-were-part-of-the-cars-i-certainly/) [Ric Ocasek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ric-ocasek/) > [I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/i-am-certainly-not-one-of-those-who-need-to-be-prodded-in-fact-if/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [A commander in chief with military experience might be able to prod a conservative military into thinking more imaginatively.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wesley-clark/a-commander-in-chief-with-military-experience-might-be-able-to-prod-a/) [Wesley Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wesley-clark/) > [Calling out people for not voting, what experts term 'public shaming,' can prod someone to cast a ballot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-duhigg/calling-out-people-for-not-voting-what-experts-term-public-shaming/) [Charles Duhigg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-duhigg/) > [Lawsuits prod companies to make their products safer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-cohen/lawsuits-prod-companies-to-make-their-products-safer/) [Adam Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-cohen/) > [My job as an editor is to gently prod the attention of the audience to look at various parts of the frame. And that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-murch/my-job-as-an-editor-is-to-gently-prod-the-attention-of-the-audience/) [Walter Murch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-murch/) > [People want to do good things, they just need a prod sometimes, and what Twitter and other technologies that connect people are showing us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-williams/people-want-to-do-good-things-they-just-need-a-prod-sometimes-and/) [Evan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-williams/) > [Working with the media remains an effective and essential way to raise issues, educate the public, and prod policy-makers and corporate leaders to change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-schumer/working-with-the-media-remains-an-effective-and-essential-way-to/) [Chuck Schumer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-schumer/) > [All my books were easy to write - doesn't it show?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-pinkwater/all-my-books-were-easy-to-write-doesn-t-it-show/) [Daniel Pinkwater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-pinkwater/) > [People think writing is a very distinguished, cerebral thing, where all you do is write. It doesn't work that way. People have to see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-subramanian/people-think-writing-is-a-very-distinguished-cerebral-thing-where-all/) [Ravi Subramanian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-subramanian/) > [Just write. It doesn't matter what you write. Just sit at your desk and write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-thompson/just-write-it-doesn-t-matter-what-you-write-just-sit-at-your-desk-and/) [Emma Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-thompson/) > [When you write it doesn't occur to you that somebody could think different from what you do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-nemerov/when-you-write-it-doesn-t-occur-to-you-that-somebody-could-think/) [Howard Nemerov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-nemerov/) > [Just because somebody hears something you say, or reads something that you write, doesn't mean you've reached them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-zappa/just-because-somebody-hears-something-you-say-or-reads-something-that/) [Frank Zappa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-zappa/) ## More by Cynthia Ozick > [History ... isn't simply what has happened. It's a judgment on what has happened.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/history-isn-t-simply-what-has-happened-it-s-a-judgment-on-what-has/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [The novelist's intuition for the sacred differs from the translator's interrogation of the sacred.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/the-novelist-s-intuition-for-the-sacred-differs-from-the-translator-s/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [Advances in technology neither impede nor augment literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/advances-in-technology-neither-impede-nor-augment-literature/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [“The Germans are sentimental. Their word Heimweh . The English say homesick; the same in plain Swedish. Hemsjuk . Leave it to the Germans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/the-germans-are-sentimental-their-word-heimweh-the-english-say/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [To desire to be what one can be is purpose in life. There are no exterior forces. There are only interior forces. Who squanders…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/to-desire-to-be-what-one-can-be-is-purpose-in-life-there-are-no/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [Imagine an American Hans Christian Andersen, conceive of the Brothers Grimm living in Missouri, and you will approximate Howard Schwartz, a fable-maker and fable-gatherer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/imagine-an-american-hans-christian-andersen-conceive-of-the-brothers/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [literature is an instrument of a culture, not a summary of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/literature-is-an-instrument-of-a-culture-not-a-summary-of-it/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [I think a fictional invention grows according to its own development, not the author's. Characters in fiction are not simply as alive as you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/i-think-a-fictional-invention-grows-according-to-its-own-development/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [An essay is a thing of the imagination. If there is information in an essay, it is by-the-by, and if there is an opinion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/an-essay-is-a-thing-of-the-imagination-if-there-is-information-in-an/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [There was a period... when I used to say, with as much ferocity as I could muster, 'I hate Henry James, and I wish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/there-was-a-period-when-i-used-to-say-with-as-much-ferocity-as-i/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [Godlessness invariably produces vulgarity. Civilization is the product of belief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/godlessness-invariably-produces-vulgarity-civilization-is-the-product/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [Dedication to one's work in the world is the only possible sanctifica-tion. Religion in all its forms is dedication to Someone Else's work, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/dedication-to-one-s-work-in-the-world-is-the-only-possible-sanctifica/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [What was lost in the European cataclysm was not only the Jewish past--the whole life of a civilization--but also a major share ofthe Jewish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/what-was-lost-in-the-european-cataclysm-was-not-only-the-jewish-past/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [“We take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/we-take-for-granted-the-very-things-that-most-deserve-our-gratitude/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [Sometimes writing has to be forced. 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Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/as-for-doing-good-that-is-one-of-the-professions-which-is-full/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Climate change poses clear, catastrophic threats. We may not agree on the extent, but we certainly can't afford the risk of inaction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/climate-change-poses-clear-catastrophic-threats-we-may-not-agree-on/) [Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/) > [Never be afraid of doing the thing you know in your heart is right, even if others don't agree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-berg/never-be-afraid-of-doing-the-thing-you-know-in-your-heart-is-right/) [Elizabeth Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-berg/) > [It's fine to talk about politics with people you agree with. But it is rude to argue about politics with people you disagree with.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-lessig/it-s-fine-to-talk-about-politics-with-people-you-agree-with-but-it-is/) [Lawrence Lessig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-lessig/) > [ I will not agree to have this bill \[to repeal DADT \] go forward, because our economy is in the tank. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mccain/i-will-not-agree-to-have-this-bill-to-repeal-dadt-go-forward-because/) [John McCain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mccain/) > [“I tend to agree with that little devil more and more these days.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elle-casey/i-tend-to-agree-with-that-little-devil-more-and-more-these-days/) [Elle Casey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elle-casey/) > [People might not agree with me, but I think a woman should have a feminine shape, something you can get your hands on. 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