--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Each piece of dialogue MUST be \"something…" description: "\"Each piece of dialogue MUST be \"something happening\". . .The \"amusing\" for its OWN sake should above all be censored. . .The functional use of dialogue..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d40/elizabeth-bowen-1197_amusing_each-piece-of-dialogue-must-be-something_3057932.jpg" --- # Each piece of dialogue MUST be "something happening"… ![“Each piece of dialogue MUST be "something happening". . .The "amusing" for its OWN sake should above all be censored. . .The functional use of dialogue for the plot must be the first thing in the writer's mind. Where functional usefulness cannot be established, dialogue must be left out.” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d40/elizabeth-bowen-1197_amusing_each-piece-of-dialogue-must-be-something_3057932.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d40/elizabeth-bowen-1197_amusing_each-piece-of-dialogue-must-be-something_3057932.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d40/elizabeth-bowen-1197_amusing_each-piece-of-dialogue-must-be-something_3057932.jpg) > “Each piece of dialogue MUST be "something happening". . .The "amusing" for its OWN sake should above all be censored. . .The functional use of dialogue for the plot must be the first thing in the writer's mind. Where functional usefulness cannot be established, dialogue must be left out.” [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Dialogue must serve the plot; decorative chatter is unnecessary and should be omitted. **In simple terms:** Dialogue should always advance the story. Key Takeaway Write purposeful dialogue. Themes writing dialogue craft Mood practical critical Type writing instructional When to use this quote - novel drafting - screenwriting - editing Key Concepts narrative function character voice Questions to Reflect On - When is atmospheric dialogue justified? - How do you balance realism and efficiency? A Different Perspective Some dialogue adds atmosphere even if not plot‑driving. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amusing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amusing/) [Communication](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communication/) [Left out](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left-out/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Things happen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-happen/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [The poem has to bear the weight with image, language... the screenplay with dialogue, plot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julianna-baggott/the-poem-has-to-bear-the-weight-with-image-language-the-screenplay/) [Julianna Baggott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julianna-baggott/) > [A lot of times, you're circling around a lot of things, and then you find that one person, or that little piece of dialogue,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-kroll/a-lot-of-times-you-re-circling-around-a-lot-of-things-and-then-you/) [Nick Kroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-kroll/) > [All my characters have got a big slice of me in them. A big piece of me, because it's my dialogue and this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilbur-smith/all-my-characters-have-got-a-big-slice-of-me-in-them-a-big-piece-of/) [Wilbur Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilbur-smith/) > [Part of the power of the Internet is that information flows out there and it's generally not censored and it's generally not controlled by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/part-of-the-power-of-the-internet-is-that-information-flows-out-there/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Between 1961 and 1982, 'The Catcher in the Rye' was the most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-grenell/between-1961-and-1982-the-catcher-in-the-rye-was-the-most-censored/) [Richard Grenell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-grenell/) > [Usually the audience has no idea that the censored version of whatever movie they're watching isn't the original.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-solondz/usually-the-audience-has-no-idea-that-the-censored-version-of/) [Todd Solondz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-solondz/) > [Libraries should be open to all - except the censor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/libraries-should-be-open-to-all-except-the-censor/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [I never really expected "Hurricane" to be censored and banned around the world, but I think the good thing that came from it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-leto/i-never-really-expected-hurricane-to-be-censored-and-banned-around/) [Jared Leto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jared-leto/) > [Thanks to television, for the first time the young are seeing history made before it is censored by their elders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/thanks-to-television-for-the-first-time-the-young-are-seeing-history/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [As it is an ancient truth that freedom cannot be legislated into existence, so it is no less obvious that freedom cannot be censored…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-d-eisenhower/as-it-is-an-ancient-truth-that-freedom-cannot-be-legislated-into/) [Dwight D. Eisenhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-d-eisenhower/) > [Consistently, Baidu has censored politically sensitive search results much more thoroughly than Google.cn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-mackinnon/consistently-baidu-has-censored-politically-sensitive-search-results/) [Rebecca MacKinnon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-mackinnon/) > [While the Internet is censored in China, the censorship is allowing a level of speech to take place that's unprecedented.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ethan-zuckerman/while-the-internet-is-censored-in-china-the-censorship-is-allowing-a/) [Ethan Zuckerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ethan-zuckerman/) > [For me, books were my source of affirmation. Alice Walker, Audrey Lord - it was these authors who wrote about their experiences. It was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dee-rees/for-me-books-were-my-source-of-affirmation-alice-walker-audrey-lord/) [Dee Rees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dee-rees/) > [I don't think that anything anyone has to say should ever be censored or unheard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eminem/i-don-t-think-that-anything-anyone-has-to-say-should-ever-be-censored/) [Eminem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eminem/) > [Satire that the censor understands is rightly censored.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/satire-that-the-censor-understands-is-rightly-censored/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) ## More by Elizabeth Bowen > [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? No, not at present, but I suppose it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/are-you-really-an-orphan-yes-i-am-said-portia-a-shade-shortly-are-you/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/it-is-not-our-exalted-feelings-it-is-our-sentiments-that-build-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Every love has a poetic relevance of its own; each love brings to light only what to it is relevant. Outside lies the junk-yard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/every-love-has-a-poetic-relevance-of-its-own-each-love-brings-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [without fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/without-fiction-either-life-would-be-insufficient-or-the-winds-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [One's sentiments -- call them that -- one's fidelities are so instinctive that one hardly knows they exist: only when they are betrayed or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/one-s-sentiments-call-them-that-one-s-fidelities-are-so-instinctive/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) [Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## More Amusing quotes > [“I have found it an amusing strategy, when asked whether I am an atheist, to point out that the questioner is also an atheist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/i-have-found-it-an-amusing-strategy-when-asked-whether-i-am-an/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [By amusing myself with all these games, all this nonsense, all these picture puzzles, I became famous... I am only a public entertainer who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/by-amusing-myself-with-all-these-games-all-this-nonsense-all-these/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [I was reading Neil Postman's 'Amusing Ourselves to Death'. It's one of my favourites.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brent-faiyaz/i-was-reading-neil-postman-s-amusing-ourselves-to-death-it-s-one-of/) [Brent Faiyaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brent-faiyaz/) > [People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-joshua-heschel/people-of-our-time-are-losing-the-power-of-celebration-instead-of/) [Abraham Joshua Heschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-joshua-heschel/) > [No one survives in times of war unless they make war their home. How did I get so old and wise, but for welcoming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-maguire/no-one-survives-in-times-of-war-unless-they-make-war-their-home-how/) [Gregory Maguire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-maguire/) > [Funny things tend not to happen to me. I am not a natural comic. I need to think about things a lot before I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-atkinson/funny-things-tend-not-to-happen-to-me-i-am-not-a-natural-comic-i-need/) [Rowan Atkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-atkinson/) > [ \[A\]n Obama presidency would be an amusing approximation of the Carter administration, complete with vaporous moralizing and foreign policy bungling. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmett-tyrrell/a-n-obama-presidency-would-be-an-amusing-approximation-of-the-carter/) [Emmett Tyrrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmett-tyrrell/) > [It's amusing how arrogant people can be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-s-amusing-how-arrogant-people-can-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Men are not amusing during the shooting season; but, after all, my dear, men were not especially designed to amuse women.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-atherton/men-are-not-amusing-during-the-shooting-season-but-after-all-my-dear/) [Gertrude Atherton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-atherton/) > [All men are fools, if truth be told, but the ones in motley are more amusing than ones with crowns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/all-men-are-fools-if-truth-be-told-but-the-ones-in-motley-are-more/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Most poetry is the utterance of a man in some state of passion, love, joy, grief, rage, etc., and no doubt this is as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/most-poetry-is-the-utterance-of-a-man-in-some-state-of-passion-love/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [It's always amusing to see how much less the political class knows than the rest of us do. ... it's never occurred to \[the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-d-cox/it-s-always-amusing-to-see-how-much-less-the-political-class-knows/) Stephen D. Cox > [Are there bears in these mountains?" he asked. His companion nodded. "Of course. But it's a bit early in the year for them to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-flanagan/are-there-bears-in-these-mountains-he-asked-his-companion-nodded-of/) [John Flanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-flanagan/) > [I always find it amusing to overhear women who have never had babies discussing what a pregnant chick should 'look' like at a certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catt-sadler/i-always-find-it-amusing-to-overhear-women-who-have-never-had-babies/) [Catt Sadler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catt-sadler/) > [The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coveyou/the-generation-of-random-numbers-is-too-important-to-be-left-to-chance/) Robert Coveyou [Browse all 436 Amusing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amusing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Each piece of dialogue MUST be \"something happening\". . .The \"amusing\" for its OWN sake should above all be censored. . .The functional use of dialogue for the plot must be the first thing in the writer's mind. 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