"Maybe writing can't be taught, but editing can……" — Donald Barthelme

"Maybe writing can't be taught, but editing can be taught—prayer, fasting and self-mutilation."

— Donald Barthelme

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40 Quotes by Donald Barthelme

Donald Barthelme has 40 quotes on this site. A few more worth reading:

Food ... is the topmost taper on the golden candelabrum of existence.
The writer is one who, emnbarking upon a task, does not know what to do.
Anathematization of the world is not an adequate response to the world.
I don’t think you can talk about progress in art—movement, but not progress.
The best way to live is by not knowing what will happen to you at the end of the day...
The important thing is the educational experience itself — how to survive it.
I think writers like old cities and are made very nervous by new cities.
Is death that which gives meaning to life? And I said, no, life is that which gives meaning to life.
Endings are elusive, middles are nowhere to be found, but worst of all is to begin, to begin, to begin.
My mother studied English and drama at the University of Pennsylvania, where my father studied architecture. She was a great…
Is death that which gives meaning to life?
The not-knowing is crucial to art, is what permits art to be made. Without the scanning process engendered by not-knowing,…

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More Editing Quotes

This quote is filed under Editing Quotes, one of 280 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:

I don't like camera trickery and editing and doubles and all of that. — Drew Barrymore
There's a great power in words, if you don't hitch too many of them together. — Josh Billings
Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space. — Orson Scott Card
I don't do any research. It's all about gut. Editing - it's always about gut. — Graydon Carter
The greatest thing that prepared me for editing 'Vanity Fair' was having four kids because you just learn to subjugate… — Graydon Carter
I can't drag myself away from 'Final Cut Pro.' It is a digital video editing system. I am obsessed with… — Margaret Cho
I don't come from a film background. I haven't learned anything about films or film-making. But I have a thirst… — Priyanka Chopra
Part of what makes a language 'alive' is its constant evolution. I would hate to think Britain would ever emulate… — Joanne Kathleen Rowling
Everyone needs an editor. — Timothy Foote
The simpler you say it, the more eloquent it is. — August Wilson
Many writers profess great exactness in punctuation who never yet made a point. — George D. Prentice
Editing might be a bloody trade. But knives aren't the exclusive property of butchers. Surgeons use them too. — Blake Morrison

See all 280 Editing Quotes »