--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: -\"-A book takes me a year to write. It's…" description: "\"“-\"-A book takes me a year to write. It's too hard work for a revenge.\" -\"If you knew how little you had to revenge...\".”\" — Graham Greene" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/152/graham-greene-441_books_a-book-takes-me-a-year-to-write-it-s-too_334792.jpg" --- # -"-A book takes me a year to write. It's too hard work for… ![“-"-A book takes me a year to write. It's too hard work for a revenge." -"If you knew how little you had to revenge...".” quote by Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/152/graham-greene-441_books_a-book-takes-me-a-year-to-write-it-s-too_334792.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/152/graham-greene-441_books_a-book-takes-me-a-year-to-write-it-s-too_334792.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/152/graham-greene-441_books_a-book-takes-me-a-year-to-write-it-s-too_334792.jpg) > ““-"-A book takes me a year to write. It's too hard work for a revenge." -"If you knew how little you had to revenge...".”” [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writing is a burdensome quest for revenge; recognizing the futility can free the writer. **In simple terms:** Writing for revenge is exhausting. Key Takeaway Write for truth, not vengeance. Themes creativity revenge burden freedom self‑awareness Mood introspective somber Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - authorial process - personal catharsis - conflict resolution - creative block Key Concepts literature psychology motivation Questions to Reflect On - What drives your creative work? - How can you transform pain without revenge? A Different Perspective It may romanticize suffering as artistic fuel. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Revenge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revenge/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Typically, a book takes me about a year to write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-bell/typically-a-book-takes-me-about-a-year-to-write/) [Ted Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-bell/) > [“Sweat cleaned you as effectively as water. But this was the race which had invented the proverb that cleanliness was next to godliness -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/sweat-cleaned-you-as-effectively-as-water-but-this-was-the-race-which/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“It was not merely that his brother was dead. His brain, too young to realize the full paradox, wondered with an obscure self- pity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/it-was-not-merely-that-his-brother-was-dead-his-brain-too-young-to/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“I doubt if ever one ceases to love, but one can cease to be in love as easily as one can outgrow an author…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-doubt-if-ever-one-ceases-to-love-but-one-can-cease-to-be-in-love-as/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“We praise heroes as though they are rare, and yet we are always ready to blame another man for lack of heroism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/we-praise-heroes-as-though-they-are-rare-and-yet-we-are-always-ready/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“The more bare a life is, the more we fear change.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/the-more-bare-a-life-is-the-more-we-fear-change/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“I spent more time than was strictly necessary in the plush red corridors of the Hotel Metropole in Hanoi. For some reason, I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-roiphe/i-spent-more-time-than-was-strictly-necessary-in-the-plush-red/) [Katie Roiphe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-roiphe/) > [A novel usually takes me two years. A year to research and plan and dream. Then a year to write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-tremain/a-novel-usually-takes-me-two-years-a-year-to-research-and-plan-and/) [Rose Tremain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-tremain/) > [Last year, I didn't even know his last name. But this year? I write it more than my own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/last-year-i-didn-t-even-know-his-last-name-but-this-year-i-write-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ Thanks!It's not a long book but it's taken a year to write. It's fnially \[read: FINALLY!!! YAYAYAYAY!\] feeling ready for my editors! Lori ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/auth/thanks-it-s-not-a-long-book-but-it-s-taken-a-year-to-write-it-s/) Auth > [Now I found it in writing sentences. You can write that sentence in a way that you would have written it last year. Or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/now-i-found-it-in-writing-sentences-you-can-write-that-sentence-in-a/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Each year, I write out a goal sheet with what I expect. If I showed anybody else my goal sheet, they would have said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-j-watt/each-year-i-write-out-a-goal-sheet-with-what-i-expect-if-i-showed/) [J. J. Watt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-j-watt/) > [Sometimes a song can take up to a year to write, and because I waited that year and waited to work on it that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/skrillex/sometimes-a-song-can-take-up-to-a-year-to-write-and-because-i-waited/) [Skrillex](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/skrillex/) > [I can't understand why a person will take a year to write a novel when he can easily buy one for a few dollars.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-allen/i-can-t-understand-why-a-person-will-take-a-year-to-write-a-novel/) [Fred Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-allen/) > [“I can't understand why a person will take a year or two to write a novel when he can easily buy one for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-allen/i-can-t-understand-why-a-person-will-take-a-year-or-two-to-write-a/) [Fred Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-allen/) ## More by Graham Greene > [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“What is cowardice in the young is wisdom in the old, but all the same one can be ashamed of wisdom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/what-is-cowardice-in-the-young-is-wisdom-in-the-old-but-all-the-same/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Pity is cruel. 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Damn me, I deserve it, but let her live forever.’ This was the love he should have felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-said-oh-god-help-her-damn-me-i-deserve-it-but-let-her-live-forever/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“A police photograph is like a passport photograph: the intelligence which casts a veil over the crude common shape is never recorded by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/a-police-photograph-is-like-a-passport-photograph-the-intelligence/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [ “I tossed up whether I'd see \[the critic\] or not: I knew too well the pompous phrases of his article, the buried significance he… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-tossed-up-whether-i-d-see-the-critic-or-not-i-knew-too-well-the/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Success is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/success-is-more-dangerous-than-failure-the-ripples-break-over-a-wider/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“But we do not love people for what they do for us. 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