--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But it is a writer's duty to write and…" description: "\"“But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record the truth, always the truth, no matter whom may be offended.”\" — Edward Abbey" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bca/edward-abbey-254_duty_but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-s_2070391.png" --- # But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record… ![“But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record the truth, always the truth, no matter whom may be offended.” quote by Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bca/edward-abbey-254_duty_but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-s_2070391.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bca/edward-abbey-254_duty_but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-s_2070391.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bca/edward-abbey-254_duty_but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-s_2070391.png) > ““But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record the truth, always the truth, no matter whom may be offended.”” [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writers must commit to truth, even if it offends. **In simple terms:** Always tell the truth, regardless of reaction. Key Takeaway Prioritize honesty over comfort. Themes integrity truth‑telling courage Mood reflective determined Type ethical literary When to use this quote - journalism - creative writing - public speaking Key Concepts ethical responsibility artistic duty freedom of expression Questions to Reflect On - What truths are you avoiding? - How do you balance honesty with empathy? A Different Perspective Truth may alienate audiences or cause backlash. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Duty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/duty/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [ “\[I\]t is the writer's duty to write fiction which promotes virtue, the good, the beautiful, and above all, the true. ... It is the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/i-t-is-the-writer-s-duty-to-write-fiction-which-promotes-virtue-the/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/the-poet-s-the-writer-s-duty-is-to-write-about-these-things-it-is-his/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. ... A writer has the duty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/a-writer-should-concern-himself-with-whatever-absorbs-his-fancy-stirs/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [I think you keep two sets of books. In one set, you record the truth -- how well you are really doing. This is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-gurley-brown/i-think-you-keep-two-sets-of-books-in-one-set-you-record-the-truth/) [Helen Gurley Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-gurley-brown/) > [As the primary end of History is to record truth, impartiality, fidelity and accuracy are the fundamental qualities of an Historian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-blair/as-the-primary-end-of-history-is-to-record-truth-impartiality/) [Hugh Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-blair/) > [There is a job to be doneto record the truth. I want to wake people up!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-nachtwey/there-is-a-job-to-be-doneto-record-the-truth-i-want-to-wake-people-up/) [James Nachtwey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-nachtwey/) > [What rare days were those, When my chief duty was to write a song.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-arnold/what-rare-days-were-those-when-my-chief-duty-was-to-write-a-song/) [George Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-arnold/) > [“You give me the duty to write about love”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicola-an/you-give-me-the-duty-to-write-about-love/) [Nicola An](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicola-an/) > [I feel a duty to write because I can write songs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-hayward/i-feel-a-duty-to-write-because-i-can-write-songs/) [Justin Hayward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-hayward/) > [“READERS ARE MY FAMILY AND IT IS MY DUTY TO WRITE FOR THEM.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahendra-trivedi/readers-are-my-family-and-it-is-my-duty-to-write-for-them/) Mahendra Trivedi > [“...a writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/a-writer-has-the-duty-to-be-good-not-lousy-true-not-false-lively-not/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [If you’re a writer, your first duty, a duty you owe to yourself and your readers, and to your writing itself, is to become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodora-goss/if-you-re-a-writer-your-first-duty-a-duty-you-owe-to-yourself-and/) [Theodora Goss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodora-goss/) > [The writer's duty is to keep on writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/the-writer-s-duty-is-to-keep-on-writing/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [I think it's a short story writer's duty, as well as writing well about emotions and characters, to write story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-brown/i-think-it-s-a-short-story-writer-s-duty-as-well-as-writing-well/) [Eric Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-brown/) > [As a writer you have a duty to be a messenger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-griffiths/as-a-writer-you-have-a-duty-to-be-a-messenger/) [Jay Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-griffiths/) ## More by Edward Abbey > [A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/a-man-could-be-a-lover-and-defender-of-the-wilderness-without-ever-in/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Apuleius married a rich widow, then wrote \_The Golden Ass\_.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/apuleius-married-a-rich-widow-then-wrote-the-golden-ass/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Except for the scale of the operation, there was nothing unusual about Hitler's massacre of the Jews. Genocide's an old tradition, as human as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/except-for-the-scale-of-the-operation-there-was-nothing-unusual-about/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [By the age of eighteen, a human has acquired enough joy and heartache to provide the food of reflection for a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/by-the-age-of-eighteen-a-human-has-acquired-enough-joy-and-heartache/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“Our institutions are too big; they represent not the best but the worst characteristics of human beings. By submitting to huge hierarchies of power,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/our-institutions-are-too-big-they-represent-not-the-best-but-the/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [No man-made structure in all of American history has been hated so much, by so many, for so long, with such good reason, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/no-man-made-structure-in-all-of-american-history-has-been-hated-so/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Where all pretend to be thinking alike, it's likely that no one is thinking at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/where-all-pretend-to-be-thinking-alike-it-s-likely-that-no-one-is/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Nobody has so many friends that he can afford to lose one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/nobody-has-so-many-friends-that-he-can-afford-to-lose-one/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“But why, the questioner insists, why do people like you pretend to love uninhabited country so much? Why this cult of wilderness? Why the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/but-why-the-questioner-insists-why-do-people-like-you-pretend-to-love/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Civilization is a youth with a molotov cocktail in his hand. Culture is the Soviet tank or L.A. cop that guns him down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/civilization-is-a-youth-with-a-molotov-cocktail-in-his-hand-culture/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [All revolutions have failed? Perhaps. But rebellion for good cause is self- justifying -- a good in itself. Rebellion transforms slaves into human beings,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/all-revolutions-have-failed-perhaps-but-rebellion-for-good-cause-is/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“Me, I'm living under a sword too, as Jack may have told you. An old wino's disease, which could lay me in the grave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/me-i-m-living-under-a-sword-too-as-jack-may-have-told-you-an-old-wino/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“Look here, I want to say, for godsake folks get out of them there machines, take off those fucking sunglasses and unpeel both eyeballs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/look-here-i-want-to-say-for-godsake-folks-get-out-of-them-there/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Reason has seldom failed us because it has seldom been tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/reason-has-seldom-failed-us-because-it-has-seldom-been-tried/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“What is the essence of the art of writing? Part One: Have something to say. Part Two: Say it well.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/what-is-the-essence-of-the-art-of-writing-part-one-have-something-to/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) [Explore all 807 Edward Abbey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) ## More Duty quotes > [I pray that wherever we are and whatever duties we have in the priesthood of God, we will be united in the cause to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-b-eyring/i-pray-that-wherever-we-are-and-whatever-duties-we-have-in-the/) [Henry B. Eyring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-b-eyring/) > [Few political debates have been as divisive as the European one. I fought as hard as I could on the Remain side, but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damian-green/few-political-debates-have-been-as-divisive-as-the-european-one-i/) [Damian Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damian-green/) > [I'm a strange mixture of my mother's curiosity; my father, who grew up the son of the manse in a Presbyterian family, who had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/i-m-a-strange-mixture-of-my-mother-s-curiosity-my-father-who-grew-up/) [Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/) > [“Is that what they teach you at the convent? That the gods demand the hearts from our bodies?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-lafevers/is-that-what-they-teach-you-at-the-convent-that-the-gods-demand-the/) [Robin LaFevers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-lafevers/) > [The less we show our love to a woman, Or please her less, and neglect our duty, The more we trap and ruin her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pushkin/the-less-we-show-our-love-to-a-woman-or-please-her-less-and-neglect/) [Alexander Pushkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pushkin/) > [We can find common qualities and common values that have made Britain the country it is. Our belief in tolerance and liberty which shines…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-brown/we-can-find-common-qualities-and-common-values-that-have-made-britain/) [Gordon Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-brown/) > [Consideration is the soil in which wisdom may be expected to grow, and strength be given to every up-springing plant of duty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/consideration-is-the-soil-in-which-wisdom-may-be-expected-to-grow-and/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“You have a right to be sad, and a duty to move on. Only wins who wipes the tears, gather strength and move forward.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augusto-branco/you-have-a-right-to-be-sad-and-a-duty-to-move-on-only-wins-who-wipes/) [Augusto Branco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augusto-branco/) > [Our duty as Christians is always to keep heaven in our eye and earth under our feet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-henry/our-duty-as-christians-is-always-to-keep-heaven-in-our-eye-and-earth/) [Matthew Henry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-henry/) > [May God bless each of us in our calls to serve. May our faith strengthen as we serve in righteousness, faithfully keeping the commandments.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-tom-perry/may-god-bless-each-of-us-in-our-calls-to-serve-may-our-faith/) [L. Tom Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-tom-perry/) > [Regardless of how you feel about war and peace those serving military are doing a duty for the rest of us and they're protecting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-cardellini/regardless-of-how-you-feel-about-war-and-peace-those-serving-military/) [Linda Cardellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-cardellini/) > [“Duty is a done deal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/duty-is-a-done-deal/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [Politics...You see, it depends on what kind of politics. What we did during my father's generation was a duty. And it was beautiful because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/indira-gandhi/politics-you-see-it-depends-on-what-kind-of-politics-what-we-did/) [Indira Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/indira-gandhi/) > [I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a Queen, as to be a Queen over so thankful a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-i/i-do-not-so-much-rejoice-that-god-hath-made-me-to-be-a-queen-as-to-be/) [Elizabeth I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-i/) > [The whole duty of man is summed up in obedience to God's will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/the-whole-duty-of-man-is-summed-up-in-obedience-to-god-s-will/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) [Browse all 5,178 Duty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/duty/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record the truth, always the truth, no matter whom may be offended.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edward Abbey" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-speak-and-record-the-truth/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Duty" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-speak-and-record-the-truth/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bca/edward-abbey-254_duty_but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-s_2070391.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bca/edward-abbey-254_duty_but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-s_2070391.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bca/edward-abbey-254_duty_but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-s_2070391.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record the truth, always the truth, no matter whom may be…” — Edward Abbey", "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": "Edward Abbey", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“But it is a writer's duty...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-speak-and-record-the-truth/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/but-it-is-a-writer-s-duty-to-write-and-speak-and-record-the-truth/#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 } } ] } ```