--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Why do I write? I write to entertain my…" description: "\"Why do I write? I write to entertain my friends and to exasperate our enemies. To unfold the folded lie, to record to truth of our time, and, of course..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a98/edward-abbey-254_bliss_why-do-i-write-i-write-to-entertain-my-f_747739.jpg" --- # Why do I write? I write to entertain my friends and to… ![“Why do I write? I write to entertain my friends and to exasperate our enemies. To unfold the folded lie, to record to truth of our time, and, of course, to promote esthetic bliss.” quote by Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a98/edward-abbey-254_bliss_why-do-i-write-i-write-to-entertain-my-f_747739.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a98/edward-abbey-254_bliss_why-do-i-write-i-write-to-entertain-my-f_747739.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a98/edward-abbey-254_bliss_why-do-i-write-i-write-to-entertain-my-f_747739.jpg) > “Why do I write? I write to entertain my friends and to exasperate our enemies. To unfold the folded lie, to record to truth of our time, and, of course, to promote esthetic bliss.” [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. Writing serves entertainment, provocation, truth‑telling, and aesthetic pleasure. **In simple terms:** Writing balances fun, challenge, truth, and beauty. Key Takeaway Write with purpose and joy. Themes creativity truth provocation Mood thoughtful playful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - journalism - fiction - activist writing Key Concepts literary art social critique Questions to Reflect On - Why do you write? - How does humor serve your message? A Different Perspective Risk of alienating audiences exists. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bliss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bliss/) [Courses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/courses/) [Enemy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enemy/) [Entertain Friends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/entertain-friends-5823891/) [Folded Lie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folded-lie-449558/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [My friends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/my-friends/) [Our time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/our-time/) [Records](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/records/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Write](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/) [Write Entertain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write-entertain-577863/) [Write Write](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write-write/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I'm not looking to write the great American novel, win a Pulitzer or teach history. I write to entertain my readers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-garlock/i-m-not-looking-to-write-the-great-american-novel-win-a-pulitzer-or/) [Dorothy Garlock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-garlock/) > [I write to entertain. When people read one of my books I want them to finish with a smile on their faces, feeling a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-evanovich/i-write-to-entertain-when-people-read-one-of-my-books-i-want-them-to/) [Janet Evanovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-evanovich/) > [What you write should entertain you and serve you first. Don't worry about maintaining anything beyond your own attention. Focus on exorcising your demons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/what-you-write-should-entertain-you-and-serve-you-first-don-t-worry/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [As far as what readers can expect with 'Maybe Someday,' I'm not the type of writer who writes to educate or inform my readers.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colleen-hoover/as-far-as-what-readers-can-expect-with-maybe-someday-i-m-not-the-type/) [Colleen Hoover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colleen-hoover/) > [“I want to unfold. I don’t want to be folded anywhere, because where I am folded, there I am a lie.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-want-to-unfold-i-don-t-want-to-be-folded-anywhere-because-where-i/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [I want to unfold. I don't want to stay folded anywhere, because where I am folded, there I am a lie, and I want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-want-to-unfold-i-don-t-want-to-stay-folded-anywhere-because-where-i-2/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [I want to unfold. I don’t want to stay folded anywhere, because where I am folded, there I am a lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-want-to-unfold-i-don-t-want-to-stay-folded-anywhere-because-where-i/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“and I wan, in those silent, somehow faltering times, to be with someone who knows, or else alone. I want to reflect everything about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-stiefvater/and-i-wan-in-those-silent-somehow-faltering-times-to-be-with-someone/) [Maggie Stiefvater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-stiefvater/) > [I don't want to stay folded anywhere, because where I am folded, there I am a lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-don-t-want-to-stay-folded-anywhere-because-where-i-am-folded-there/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [All I have is a voice to undo the folded lie, the romantic lie in the brain of the sensual man-in-the-street and the lie…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/all-i-have-is-a-voice-to-undo-the-folded-lie-the-romantic-lie-in-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I want my own will, and I want simply to be with my will, as it goes toward action. And in the silent, sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-want-my-own-will-and-i-want-simply-to-be-with-my-will-as-it-goes/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [I don’t want to stand before you like a thing, shrewd, secretive. I want my own will, and I want simply to be with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-don-t-want-to-stand-before-you-like-a-thing-shrewd-secretive-i-want/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“Everywhere I am folded, there I am a lie.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/everywhere-i-am-folded-there-i-am-a-lie/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [I do not want to be folded for where I am folded, there I am a lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-do-not-want-to-be-folded-for-where-i-am-folded-there-i-am-a-lie/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [Each of us is a moving center, a space of divine mystery. And though we spend most of our time on the surface in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-roth/each-of-us-is-a-moving-center-a-space-of-divine-mystery-and-though-we/) [Gabrielle Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-roth/) ## 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 Bliss quotes > [Ignorance is not bliss — it is oblivion. Determined ignorance is the hastiest kind of oblivion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-wylie/ignorance-is-not-bliss-it-is-oblivion-determined-ignorance-is-the/) [Philip Wylie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-wylie/) > [The artist's experience lies so unbelievably close to the sexual, to its pain and its pleasure, that the two phenomena are really just different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/the-artist-s-experience-lies-so-unbelievably-close-to-the-sexual-to/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [and Venus among the fishes skips and is a she-dolphin she is the gay, delighted porpoise sporting with love and the sea she is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/and-venus-among-the-fishes-skips-and-is-a-she-dolphin-she-is-the-gay/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [Music is a lot more like solving an intricate puzzle with moments of pure, random creative bliss... whereas painting is much more purely random…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-boyd/music-is-a-lot-more-like-solving-an-intricate-puzzle-with-moments-of/) [Brandon Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-boyd/) > [Work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-f-schumacher/work-and-leisure-are-complementary-parts-of-the-same-living-process/) [E. F. Schumacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-f-schumacher/) > [“Being around her now was nine parts bliss and one part torment. And he wanted it to last as long as possible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-ringle/being-around-her-now-was-nine-parts-bliss-and-one-part-torment-and-he/) [Molly Ringle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-ringle/) > [“He was still a mystery to me. And God, did I want to play Nancy Drew.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cora-carmack/he-was-still-a-mystery-to-me-and-god-did-i-want-to-play-nancy-drew/) [Cora Carmack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cora-carmack/) > [Eating, drinking, sleeping a little laughter ! much weeping! Is that all ? Do not die here like a worm. Wake up! Attain immortal bliss!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sivananda/eating-drinking-sleeping-a-little-laughter-much-weeping-is-that-all/) [Sivananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sivananda/) > [How do you find the divine power in yourself? The word enthusiasm means 'filled with a god,' so what makes you enthusiastic? Follow it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/how-do-you-find-the-divine-power-in-yourself-the-word-enthusiasm/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [When you follow your bliss a kind of track opens up, that's always been there, waiting for you. And the life that you should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/when-you-follow-your-bliss-a-kind-of-track-opens-up-that-s-always/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [When you drop your unnecessary things, you finally can swoop and fly in vast space. It is so blue, so bright, and so nice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chogyam-trungpa/when-you-drop-your-unnecessary-things-you-finally-can-swoop-and-fly/) [Chogyam Trungpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chogyam-trungpa/) > [“Everything we perceive to be solid and static is made up of almost entirely empty space.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-p-kauffman/everything-we-perceive-to-be-solid-and-static-is-made-up-of-almost/) [Joseph P. Kauffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-p-kauffman/) > [“The smell of her hair lingered just out of reach of his memory and left him with a nervous hum resonating throughout his body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-tomblin/the-smell-of-her-hair-lingered-just-out-of-reach-of-his-memory-and/) [Erik Tomblin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-tomblin/) > [“They happen only when you are distant,aloof. They happen, they cannot be brought. They happen you cannot force them to happen. They are spontaneous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/osho/they-happen-only-when-you-are-distant-aloof-they-happen-they-cannot/) [Osho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/osho/) > [“Ignorance was bliss. Or at least less painfull”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiersten-white/ignorance-was-bliss-or-at-least-less-painfull/) [Kiersten White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiersten-white/) [Browse all 1,311 Bliss quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bliss/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Why do I write? I write to entertain my friends and to exasperate our enemies. 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