--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I never overcame my conviction that…" description: "\"I never overcame my conviction that writing for commercial television was a kind of prostitution.\" — Helene Hanff" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9a/helene-hanff-17131_conviction_i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writ_2954989.jpg" --- # I never overcame my conviction that writing for commercial… ![“I never overcame my conviction that writing for commercial television was a kind of prostitution.” quote by Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9a/helene-hanff-17131_conviction_i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writ_2954989.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9a/helene-hanff-17131_conviction_i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writ_2954989.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9a/helene-hanff-17131_conviction_i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writ_2954989.jpg) > “I never overcame my conviction that writing for commercial television was a kind of prostitution.” [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. She equates commercial TV writing with moral compromise, feeling it devalues artistic integrity. **In simple terms:** TV writing feels like selling out. Key Takeaway Consider the ethical impact of your work. Themes integrity art commercialism Mood conflicted reflective Type critical philosophical When to use this quote - career decisions - media industry - personal values Key Concepts moral compromise creative authenticity Questions to Reflect On - How do you define artistic integrity? - Can commercial success coexist with personal values? A Different Perspective Not all commercial work is inherently exploitative. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Commercial Television](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commercial-television-1564652/) [Conviction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction/) [Conviction Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction-writing-4472755/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Kind Prostitution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind-prostitution-4472754/) [Prostitution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prostitution/) [Television](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/television/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Writing Commercial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-commercial-2349460/) ## Related quotes > [My own personal conviction is that if I were writing without thinking about how images or how journalism is creating a world for us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/my-own-personal-conviction-is-that-if-i-were-writing-without-thinking/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [Who are you writing this for? For a commercial reason, or because you want to make great art and give it to your fans?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-grammer/who-are-you-writing-this-for-for-a-commercial-reason-or-because-you/) [Andy Grammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-grammer/) > [I wasn't really writing with anything commercial in mind I just wanted to create some new music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-sherwood/i-wasn-t-really-writing-with-anything-commercial-in-mind-i-just/) [Billy Sherwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-sherwood/) > [I'm not writing great literature. I'm writing commercial fiction for people to enjoy the stories and to like the characters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-reichs/i-m-not-writing-great-literature-i-m-writing-commercial-fiction-for/) [Kathy Reichs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathy-reichs/) > [Commercial television has underestimated the intelligence of the public.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-lewis/commercial-television-has-underestimated-the-intelligence-of-the/) [Jerry Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-lewis/) > [There is an insistent tendency among serious social scientists to think of any institution which features rhymed and singing commercials, intense and lachrymose voices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/there-is-an-insistent-tendency-among-serious-social-scientists-to/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [I think the challenge in hour television or half-hour television is that the more it's around, certainly on commercial television, the less time you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-bakula/i-think-the-challenge-in-hour-television-or-half-hour-television-is/) [Scott Bakula](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-bakula/) > [Commercial television has lowered the general standard of TV in an endeavour to get millions and masses of people to watch the advertising. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-robens-baron-robens-of-woldingham/commercial-television-has-lowered-the-general-standard-of-tv-in-an/) [Alfred Robens, Baron Robens of Woldingham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-robens-baron-robens-of-woldingham/) > [When I came to England at the very beginning of commercial television it was easy for me because I was only doing one or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-lester/when-i-came-to-england-at-the-very-beginning-of-commercial-television/) [Richard Lester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-lester/) > [The workman cut to the left, still laying on his horn, and roared around the drunkenly weaving limousine. He invited the driver of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/the-workman-cut-to-the-left-still-laying-on-his-horn-and-roared/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Prostitution presents a moral, economic and social problem that cannot be resolved juridically.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federica-montseny/prostitution-presents-a-moral-economic-and-social-problem-that-cannot/) [Federica Montseny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federica-montseny/) > [To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/to-labor-in-the-arts-for-any-reason-other-than-love-is-prostitution/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [The fight against syphilis demands a fight against prostitution, against prejudices, old habits, against previous conceptions, general views among them not least the false…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/the-fight-against-syphilis-demands-a-fight-against-prostitution/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [Well this is aptly called a junket, for both of us. I have never been to a house of prostitution, but I understand that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dustin-hoffman/well-this-is-aptly-called-a-junket-for-both-of-us-i-have-never-been/) [Dustin Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dustin-hoffman/) > [Most celebrated men live in a condition of prostitution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-augustin-sainte-beuve/most-celebrated-men-live-in-a-condition-of-prostitution/) [Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-augustin-sainte-beuve/) ## More by Helene Hanff > [“Somewhere along the way I came upon a mews with a small sign on the entrance gate addressed to the passing world. The sign…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/somewhere-along-the-way-i-came-upon-a-mews-with-a-small-sign-on-the/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [My problem is that while other people are reading fifty books I'm reading one book fifty times. I only stop when at the bottom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/my-problem-is-that-while-other-people-are-reading-fifty-books-i-m/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [I do love secondhand books that open to the page some previous owner read oftenest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-do-love-secondhand-books-that-open-to-the-page-some-previous-owner/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [“I houseclean my books every spring and throw out those I'm never going to read again like I throw out clothes I'm never going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-houseclean-my-books-every-spring-and-throw-out-those-i-m-never/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [It's against my principles to buy a book I haven't read, it's like buying a dress you haven't tried on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/it-s-against-my-principles-to-buy-a-book-i-haven-t-read-it-s-like/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-love-inscriptions-on-flyleaves-and-notes-in-margins-i-like-the/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [I wish you hadn't been so over-courteous about putting the inscription on a card instead of on the flyleaf. It's the bookseller coming out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-wish-you-hadn-t-been-so-over-courteous-about-putting-the/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [I have these guilts about never having read Chaucer but I was talked out of learning Early Anglo-Saxon / Middle English by a friend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-have-these-guilts-about-never-having-read-chaucer-but-i-was-talked/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [I personally can't think of anything less sacrosanct than a bad book or even a mediocre book.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-personally-can-t-think-of-anything-less-sacrosanct-than-a-bad-book/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [What fortune teller would ever have had the nerve to predict that the best years of my life would turn out to be my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/what-fortune-teller-would-ever-have-had-the-nerve-to-predict-that-the/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [“Please write and tell me about London, I live for the day when I step off the boat-train and feel its dirty sidewalks under…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/please-write-and-tell-me-about-london-i-live-for-the-day-when-i-step/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [I despair of ever getting it through anybody's head I am not interested in bookshops, I am interested in what's written in the books.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-despair-of-ever-getting-it-through-anybody-s-head-i-am-not/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [I liked reading about the nun who ate so dainty with her fingers she never dripped any grease on herself. I've never been able…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-liked-reading-about-the-nun-who-ate-so-dainty-with-her-fingers-she/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/if-you-happen-to-pass-by-84-charing-cross-road-kiss-it-for-me-i-owe/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) > [Talent is the infinite capacity for taking pains. Genius is the infinite capacity for achievement without taking any pains at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/talent-is-the-infinite-capacity-for-taking-pains-genius-is-the/) [Helene Hanff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) [Explore all 37 Helene Hanff quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/) ## More Conviction quotes > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. Truman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-s-truman/) > [Once you pull the trigger, you've got to throw balls aggressively and with conviction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-smith/once-you-pull-the-trigger-you-ve-got-to-throw-balls-aggressively-and/) [Alex Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-smith/) > [I've been around in public life for a long time. I think people know what I stand for. They know that I have strong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-turnbull/i-ve-been-around-in-public-life-for-a-long-time-i-think-people-know/) [Malcolm Turnbull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-turnbull/) > [“Desert are you, deluge are you, in a crowd of fakes, only truth is you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/desert-are-you-deluge-are-you-in-a-crowd-of-fakes-only-truth-is-you/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [For a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-r-ambedkar/for-a-successful-revolution-it-is-not-enough-that-there-is-discontent/) [B. R. Ambedkar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-r-ambedkar/) > ['Peace on earth, good will toward men' - democracy must cling to that message. For it is my deep conviction that democracy cannot live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-d-roosevelt/peace-on-earth-good-will-toward-men-democracy-must-cling-to-that/) [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-d-roosevelt/) > [No physiologist who calmly considers the question in connection with the general truths of his science, can long resist the conviction that different parts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/no-physiologist-who-calmly-considers-the-question-in-connection-with/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [ Beneath everything else, North and West, there ran a profound, unvoiced, almost subconscious conviction that the \[American\] nation was going to go on growing-in… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/beneath-everything-else-north-and-west-there-ran-a-profound-unvoiced/) [Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/) > [Nor would anybody suspect. If was one thing all people took for granted, was conviction that if you feed honest figures into a computer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/nor-would-anybody-suspect-if-was-one-thing-all-people-took-for/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [When you fight to give your family bread, that's not passion anymore: that's conviction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yoel-romero/when-you-fight-to-give-your-family-bread-that-s-not-passion-anymore/) [Yoel Romero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yoel-romero/) > [If you know the differences between an oak and a poplar, a spruce and a pine, down to the needles... you are able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-allen-lawson/if-you-know-the-differences-between-an-oak-and-a-poplar-a-spruce-and/) [T. Allen Lawson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-allen-lawson/) > [We need the conviction to be able to think for ourselves and to take action outof our own sense of responsibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/senora-roy/we-need-the-conviction-to-be-able-to-think-for-ourselves-and-to-take/) [Senora Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/senora-roy/) > [The law of England has established trial by judge and jury in the conviction that it is the mode best calculated to ascertain the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-bentham/the-law-of-england-has-established-trial-by-judge-and-jury-in-the/) [Jeremy Bentham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-bentham/) > [If you are going to flip something, you must have the courage of your convictions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-child/if-you-are-going-to-flip-something-you-must-have-the-courage-of-your/) [Julia Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-child/) > [We embark unhesitatingly on the path, in a direction that is absolutely right and urgent, supported by everyone, in the knowledge that this path…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehudi-menuhin/we-embark-unhesitatingly-on-the-path-in-a-direction-that-is/) [Yehudi Menuhin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehudi-menuhin/) [Browse all 2,157 Conviction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I never overcame my conviction that writing for commercial television was a kind of prostitution.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Helene Hanff" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writing-for-commercial-television/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Conviction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writing-for-commercial-television/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9a/helene-hanff-17131_conviction_i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writ_2954989.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9a/helene-hanff-17131_conviction_i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writ_2954989.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9a/helene-hanff-17131_conviction_i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writ_2954989.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I never overcame my conviction that writing for commercial television was a kind of prostitution.” — Helene Hanff", "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": "Helene Hanff", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helene-hanff/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I never overcame my conviction that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writing-for-commercial-television/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helene-hanff/i-never-overcame-my-conviction-that-writing-for-commercial-television/#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 } } ] } ```