--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Writers are interesting people, but often…" description: "\"Writers are interesting people, but often mean and petty.\" — Lillian Hellman" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/466/lillian-hellman-4752_interesting_writers-are-interesting-people-but-often_3050502.jpg" --- # Writers are interesting people, but often mean and petty. ![“Writers are interesting people, but often mean and petty.” quote by Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/466/lillian-hellman-4752_interesting_writers-are-interesting-people-but-often_3050502.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/466/lillian-hellman-4752_interesting_writers-are-interesting-people-but-often_3050502.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/466/lillian-hellman-4752_interesting_writers-are-interesting-people-but-often_3050502.jpg) > “Writers are interesting people, but often mean and petty.” [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writers can be fascinating yet sometimes display petty behavior. **In simple terms:** Writers are interesting but can be petty. Key Takeaway Appreciate talent while staying aware of flaws. Themes creativity humanity flaws Mood critical analytical Type thoughtful skeptical When to use this quote - publishing industry - creative collaborations - social circles Key Concepts literary criticism personal dynamics Questions to Reflect On - What makes a writer seem petty? - How can we separate art from artist? A Different Perspective May generalize unfairly. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Interesting people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interesting-people/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Sarcastic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sarcastic/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writers/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“YOUR BOREDOM IS YOUR PROBLEM," said Owen Meany. "IT'S YOUR LACK OF IMAGINATION THAT BORES YOU. HARDY HAS THE WORLD FIGURED OUT. 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I do hang out with a lot of sort of powerful,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duncan-roy/i-m-part-of-an-industry-that-everybody-wants-to-be-a-part-of-i-do/) [Duncan Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duncan-roy/) > [Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-schmich/don-t-feel-guilty-if-you-don-t-know-what-you-want-to-do-with-your/) [Mary Schmich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-schmich/) > [Politicians are interesting people, most of them are smart and hard-working-I mean, they keep schedules no one else would think of keeping. Some of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tucker-carlson/politicians-are-interesting-people-most-of-them-are-smart-and-hard/) [Tucker Carlson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tucker-carlson/) > [My experiences growing up - my father lived in New York, so I was going out there in the summers and meeting really interesting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahershala-ali/my-experiences-growing-up-my-father-lived-in-new-york-so-i-was-going/) [Mahershala Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahershala-ali/) > [Pursuing your passions makes you more interesting, and interesting people are enchanting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-kawasaki/pursuing-your-passions-makes-you-more-interesting-and-interesting/) [Guy Kawasaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-kawasaki/) > [I understand entertaining. 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As the experiences get more interesting, people enjoy them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-baszucki/as-the-quality-of-our-platform-gets-better-the-developers-can-make/) [David Baszucki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-baszucki/) > [That's interesting: people deriving their identities from their music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ethan-coen/that-s-interesting-people-deriving-their-identities-from-their-music/) [Ethan Coen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ethan-coen/) > [“I love boats. Boats are great. 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It costs so much, you feel so guilty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/failure-in-the-theater-is-more-dramatic-and-uglier-than-any-other/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [A man should be jailed for telling lies to the young.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/a-man-should-be-jailed-for-telling-lies-to-the-young/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [I don't think many writers like their best-known piece of work, particularly when it was written a long time ago.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/i-don-t-think-many-writers-like-their-best-known-piece-of-work/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [I live in a room and I go to work and I play a game called getting through the day while you wait for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/i-live-in-a-room-and-i-go-to-work-and-i-play-a-game-called-getting/) [LILLIAN HELLMAN](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [There are people who eat the earth and eat all the people on it like in the Bible with the locusts. And other people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/there-are-people-who-eat-the-earth-and-eat-all-the-people-on-it-like/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [Nothing you write, if you hope to be good, will ever come out as you first hoped.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/nothing-you-write-if-you-hope-to-be-good-will-ever-come-out-as-you/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [Decision by democratic majority vote is a fine form of government, but it's a stinking way to create.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/decision-by-democratic-majority-vote-is-a-fine-form-of-government-but/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [Haven't you lived in the South long enough to know that nothing is ever anybody's fault?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/haven-t-you-lived-in-the-south-long-enough-to-know-that-nothing-is/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [We will not think noble because we are not noble. We will not live in beautiful harmony because there is no such thing in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/we-will-not-think-noble-because-we-are-not-noble-we-will-not-live-in/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [It was an unspoken pleasure, that having come together so many years, ruined so much and repaired a little, we had endured.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/it-was-an-unspoken-pleasure-that-having-come-together-so-many-years/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [Intellectuals can tell themselves anything, sell themselves any bill of goods, which is why they were so often patsies for the ruling classes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/intellectuals-can-tell-themselves-anything-sell-themselves-any-bill/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [Courtesy is breeding. Breeding is an excellent thing. Always remember that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/courtesy-is-breeding-breeding-is-an-excellent-thing-always-remember/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [You lose your manners when you're poor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/you-lose-your-manners-when-you-re-poor/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [Fashions in sin change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/fashions-in-sin-change/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) [Explore all 106 Lillian Hellman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) ## More Interesting quotes > [Sometimes a sign or a quote is simply interesting by itself and does not require anything beyond being framed on a page.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-vincent-benet/sometimes-a-sign-or-a-quote-is-simply-interesting-by-itself-and-does/) [Stephen Vincent Benet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-vincent-benet/) > [I love casting against type and doing things you wouldn't expect, because I think you get more interesting performances that way. 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Arthur Gride, whose bleared eyes gloated only over the outward beauties, and were blind to the spirit which reigned within, evinced - a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/arthur-gride-whose-bleared-eyes-gloated-only-over-the-outward/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [It is sort of interesting that in our society this days we are very quick to apply the term 'war' to places where thare…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-schneier/it-is-sort-of-interesting-that-in-our-society-this-days-we-are-very/) [Bruce Schneier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-schneier/) > [If you do a black character or a female character or an Asian character, then they aren't just that character. They represent that race…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwayne-mcduffie/if-you-do-a-black-character-or-a-female-character-or-an-asian/) [Dwayne McDuffie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwayne-mcduffie/) > [We're wired to expect the world to be brighter and more meaningful and more obviously interesting than it actually is. And when we realize…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-grossman/we-re-wired-to-expect-the-world-to-be-brighter-and-more-meaningful/) [Lev Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-grossman/) > [Failure or success seems to have been allotted to men by their stars. But they retain the power of wriggling, of fighting with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/failure-or-success-seems-to-have-been-allotted-to-men-by-their-stars/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life can be difficult sometimes, it gets bumpy. What with family and kids and things not going exactly like you planned. But that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-van-patten/life-can-be-difficult-sometimes-it-gets-bumpy-what-with-family-and/) Joyce Van Patten > [Here are the good things about independent films: They do the more interesting, chancy scripts. They're run by love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-macy/here-are-the-good-things-about-independent-films-they-do-the-more/) [William H. 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Much family…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/it-s-an-interesting-fact-that-fewer-than-17-of-real-cats-end-their/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) Browse all 9,270 Interesting quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Writers are interesting people, but often mean and petty.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lillian Hellman" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/writers-are-interesting-people-but-often-mean-and-petty/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Interesting" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/writers-are-interesting-people-but-often-mean-and-petty/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/466/lillian-hellman-4752_interesting_writers-are-interesting-people-but-often_3050502.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/466/lillian-hellman-4752_interesting_writers-are-interesting-people-but-often_3050502.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/466/lillian-hellman-4752_interesting_writers-are-interesting-people-but-often_3050502.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Writers are interesting people, but often mean and petty.” — Lillian Hellman", "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": "Lillian Hellman", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Writers are interesting people, but often...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/writers-are-interesting-people-but-often-mean-and-petty/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/writers-are-interesting-people-but-often-mean-and-petty/#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 } } ] } ```