--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If a man can only write well when drunk…" description: "\"If a man can only write well when drunk, I'll tell him: get drunk. And if he tells me that his liver suffers with it, I'll answer: what's your liver? I..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b0/fernando-pessoa-177_answers_if-a-man-can-only-write-well-when-drunk_3021220.jpg" --- # If a man can only write well when drunk, I'll tell him… ![“If a man can only write well when drunk, I'll tell him: get drunk. And if he tells me that his liver suffers with it, I'll answer: what's your liver? It's a dead thing that lives as long as you live, and the poems you'll write will live without a as long as.” quote by Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b0/fernando-pessoa-177_answers_if-a-man-can-only-write-well-when-drunk_3021220.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b0/fernando-pessoa-177_answers_if-a-man-can-only-write-well-when-drunk_3021220.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b0/fernando-pessoa-177_answers_if-a-man-can-only-write-well-when-drunk_3021220.jpg) > “If a man can only write well when drunk, I'll tell him: get drunk. And if he tells me that his liver suffers with it, I'll answer: what's your liver? It's a dead thing that lives as long as you live, and the poems you'll write will live without a as long as.” [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Encourages a drunk writer to keep writing, dismissing health concerns as irrelevant to artistic legacy. **In simple terms:** Write despite health concerns. Key Takeaway Prioritize artistic expression. Themes creativity health legacy Mood intense reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing habit - personal health Key Concepts existentialism artistic sacrifice Questions to Reflect On - Is artistic output worth personal health risks? - How do you balance creation and wellbeing? A Different Perspective Health may suffer long‑term. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Answer Liver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/answer-liver-4891604/) [Answers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/answers/) [Drunk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drunk/) [Drunk Tells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drunk-tells-4891606/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Liver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liver/) [Liver Suffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liver-suffers-4891605/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Tells Liver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tells-liver-4891603/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) [Write Drunk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write-drunk-1354995/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I write as if I were drunk. It is a process of intuition rather than placing myself above my story like a puppeteer pulling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elif-safak/i-write-as-if-i-were-drunk-it-is-a-process-of-intuition-rather-than/) [Elif Safak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elif-safak/) > [“Write drunk (on emotion); edit sober (on rationality and intention). Faulkner, reimagined by me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-cooke/write-drunk-on-emotion-edit-sober-on-rationality-and-intention/) [Christina Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-cooke/) > [I have written much less than most people who write; I have drunk much more than most people who drink.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-debord/i-have-written-much-less-than-most-people-who-write-i-have-drunk-much/) [Guy Debord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-debord/) > [Among the small number of things that I have liked and known how to do well, what I have assuredly known how to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-debord/among-the-small-number-of-things-that-i-have-liked-and-known-how-to/) [Guy Debord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-debord/) > [Sometimes I write drunk and revise sober, and sometimes I write sober and revise drunk. But you have to have both elements in creation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/sometimes-i-write-drunk-and-revise-sober-and-sometimes-i-write-sober/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [Write drunk; edit sober.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/write-drunk-edit-sober/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You can't write drunk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/you-can-t-write-drunk/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [Your poems are of interest to mankind; your liver isn't. Drink till you write well and feel sick. Bless your poems and be damned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/your-poems-are-of-interest-to-mankind-your-liver-isn-t-drink-till-you/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [The battle against cancer has made me strong. It's like winning a war! 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But so is cod liver oil. And jogging.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-clarkson/we-all-know-that-small-cars-are-good-for-us-but-so-is-cod-liver-oil/) [Jeremy Clarkson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-clarkson/) > [I'm not asking a poem to carry a lot of rocks in its pockets. Just being an ordinary observer and liver and feeler and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/i-m-not-asking-a-poem-to-carry-a-lot-of-rocks-in-its-pockets-just/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [To become a celebrity is to become a brand name. There is Ivory Soap, Rice Krispies, and Philip Roth. Ivory is the soap that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/to-become-a-celebrity-is-to-become-a-brand-name-there-is-ivory-soap/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) ## More by Fernando Pessoa > [Everything interests me, but nothing holds me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/everything-interests-me-but-nothing-holds-me/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“If only, I feel now, if only I could be someone able to see all this as if he had no other relation with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/if-only-i-feel-now-if-only-i-could-be-someone-able-to-see-all-this-as/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [What's given, in fact, always depends on the person or thing it's given to. 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I try to place words right next to my idea So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/i-try-to-say-what-i-feel-without-thinking-about-what-i-feel-i-try-to/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Have you ever considered, beloved other, how invisible we are to each other? We look at each other without seeing. We listen to each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/have-you-ever-considered-beloved-other-how-invisible-we-are-to-each/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“To associate is to die. Only my consciousness of myself is real for me; other people are hazy phenomena in this consciousness, and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/to-associate-is-to-die-only-my-consciousness-of-myself-is-real-for-me/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“When it comes to dreams, I’m no different from the errand boy and the seamstress. The only thing that distinguishes me from them is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/when-it-comes-to-dreams-i-m-no-different-from-the-errand-boy-and-the/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it. Collective thought is stupid because it’s collective. 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Lecturing to children is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-disney/i-have-long-felt-that-the-way-to-keep-children-out-of-trouble-is-to/) [Walt Disney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-disney/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [“As long as you keep searching,the answers will come.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kynock/as-long-as-you-keep-searching-the-answers-will-come/) [Mitch Kynock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kynock/) > [The answer to deep anxiety is the deep adoration of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-voskamp/the-answer-to-deep-anxiety-is-the-deep-adoration-of-god/) [Ann Voskamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-voskamp/) > [A dialogue is very important. 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