--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To rehearse imaginary conversations on…" description: "\"To rehearse imaginary conversations on paper is called literature. To do so out loud is called madness.\" — Philip Sington" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7a/philip-sington-26781_books_to-rehearse-imaginary-conversations-on-p_2904011.png" --- # To rehearse imaginary conversations on paper is called… ![“To rehearse imaginary conversations on paper is called literature. To do so out loud is called madness.” quote by Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7a/philip-sington-26781_books_to-rehearse-imaginary-conversations-on-p_2904011.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7a/philip-sington-26781_books_to-rehearse-imaginary-conversations-on-p_2904011.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7a/philip-sington-26781_books_to-rehearse-imaginary-conversations-on-p_2904011.png) > “To rehearse imaginary conversations on paper is called literature. To do so out loud is called madness.” [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writing imagined dialogues is literature; speaking them aloud is madness. **In simple terms:** Imagined written dialogue is art; speaking it is irrational. Key Takeaway Recognize the value of written imagination. Themes literature imagination madness expression creativity communication Mood reflective analytical philosophical Type literary observational When to use this quote - creative writing workshops - therapy sessions - script development Key Concepts writing theatre psychology performance art Questions to Reflect On - When is vocalizing imagination useful? - How does silence shape literary creation? A Different Perspective Speaking imagined conversations can be socially awkward. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Called Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/called-literature-2546378/) [Called Madness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/called-madness-913613/) [Communication](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communication/) [Conversation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conversation/) [Imaginary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginary/) [Imaginary Conversations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginary-conversations-1094340/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Literature Loud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature-loud-4146017/) [Loud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loud/) [Madness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/madness/) [Paper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paper/) [Rehearse Imaginary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rehearse-imaginary-4146016/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [I do not mind having imaginary conversations with animals who are part of my life. The comfort of talking to one at a time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-tangye/i-do-not-mind-having-imaginary-conversations-with-animals-who-are/) [Derek Tangye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-tangye/) > [Those who do not have imaginary conversations do not love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josephine-hart/those-who-do-not-have-imaginary-conversations-do-not-love/) [Josephine Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josephine-hart/) > [I had often joked in my speeches that I had imaginary conversations with Mrs. Roosevelt to solicit her advice on a range of subjects.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/i-had-often-joked-in-my-speeches-that-i-had-imaginary-conversations/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [“Forcing some one to love you is not love that's called madness, Love is that feeling where force doesn't work, only happiness of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debolina-bhawal/forcing-some-one-to-love-you-is-not-love-that-s-called-madness-love/) [Debolina Bhawal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debolina-bhawal/) > [I have seen mad people, and I have known some who were quite intelligent, lucid, even clear-sighted in every concern of life, except on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-de-maupassant/i-have-seen-mad-people-and-i-have-known-some-who-were-quite/) [Guy de Maupassant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-de-maupassant/) > [I have loved to the point of madness, That which is called madness, That which to me, Is the only sensible way 2 love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-have-loved-to-the-point-of-madness-that-which-is-called-madness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“When society does something wrong and extremely immoral, ironically it is not called ‘madness’. For example, ‘sati burning’ and ‘forced conversion into another religion’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/md-ziaul-haque/when-society-does-something-wrong-and-extremely-immoral-ironically-it/) [Md. Ziaul Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/md-ziaul-haque/) > [“Things we could not tell each other with the width of the Atlantic between us we communicated from heart to heart in those imaginary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-green/things-we-could-not-tell-each-other-with-the-width-of-the-atlantic/) [Julien Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-green/) > [“He knew that he’d known her for less than a week, but now that she was gone he was continually probing his feelings for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hellenga/he-knew-that-he-d-known-her-for-less-than-a-week-but-now-that-she-was/) [Robert Hellenga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hellenga/) > [Going to bed can cause imaginary conversations you should have had with certain people or real conversations with your brother who is calling from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-bruce-cameron/going-to-bed-can-cause-imaginary-conversations-you-should-have-had/) [W. Bruce Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-bruce-cameron/) > [Considering that "literary fiction" is a sub-genre that's not quite the same as "literature," either, it follows that the short, semi-humorous bits posted online…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-klein/considering-that-literary-fiction-is-a-sub-genre-that-s-not-quite-the/) [Lee Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-klein/) > [that sunlight of the dead which is called literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marthe-bibesco/that-sunlight-of-the-dead-which-is-called-literature/) [Marthe Bibesco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marthe-bibesco/) > [Before college, I hadn't voluntarily read anything that might be called literature; I didn't think I'd understand it; I never seemed to understand my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-bank/before-college-i-hadn-t-voluntarily-read-anything-that-might-be/) [Melissa Bank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-bank/) > [Art too is just a way of living, and however one lives, one can, without knowing, prepare for it; in everything real one is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/art-too-is-just-a-way-of-living-and-however-one-lives-one-can-without/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [The rest, called literature, is a dossier of human imbecility for the guidance of future professors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tristan-tzara/the-rest-called-literature-is-a-dossier-of-human-imbecility-for-the/) [Tristan Tzara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tristan-tzara/) ## More by Philip Sington > [I have found that in fiction one is freer to speak the truth, if only because in fiction the truth is not expected or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/i-have-found-that-in-fiction-one-is-freer-to-speak-the-truth-if-only/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [We drank our coffee the Russian way. That is to say we had vodka before it and vodka afterwards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/we-drank-our-coffee-the-russian-way-that-is-to-say-we-had-vodka/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [“Her hair, just long enough now to tie back in a knot, had a coppery sheen, a hint of fire in the darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/her-hair-just-long-enough-now-to-tie-back-in-a-knot-had-a-coppery/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [Desire is an appetite, quickly sated. Longing is a wound, an opening in the heart or the spirit. Whatever the cause, whatever the duration,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/desire-is-an-appetite-quickly-sated-longing-is-a-wound-an-opening-in/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [“…it seemed to Kirsch that the most reliable guide to the mental landscape of a patient was the patient himself. 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A woman's scarf whipped by overhead, somersaulting as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/the-wind-funnelled-down-the-covered-platform-jostling-the-passengers/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [And then they would watch her closely as the dark, coagulated masses took form before her eyes, became flesh and bone, became gradually human.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/and-then-they-would-watch-her-closely-as-the-dark-coagulated-masses/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [“He reached into the grate, picked out a couple of scraps, smoothed them out, leaning close to the flickering light. He was curious to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/he-reached-into-the-grate-picked-out-a-couple-of-scraps-smoothed-them/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [I was already at an age when putting off anything was a bad idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/i-was-already-at-an-age-when-putting-off-anything-was-a-bad-idea/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [The future can always wait so long as the here-and-now is rapturous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/the-future-can-always-wait-so-long-as-the-here-and-now-is-rapturous/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [All writers are insecure, the male ones especially. It's well known. Why else would they spend so much time on make-believe? They're only happy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/all-writers-are-insecure-the-male-ones-especially-it-s-well-known-why/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [The railway was part scalpel, part movie camera, slicing the city open, parading its inner workings at fifty frames per second. It was on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/the-railway-was-part-scalpel-part-movie-camera-slicing-the-city-open/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [One thing I knew about the novelist’s task: when in doubt, write; when empty, write; when afraid, write. Nothing is more impenetrable than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/one-thing-i-knew-about-the-novelist-s-task-when-in-doubt-write-when/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) > [“Problems are there to be solved. How dull life would be without them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sington/problems-are-there-to-be-solved-how-dull-life-would-be-without-them/) [Philip Sington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) [Explore all 21 Philip Sington quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sington/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) [Christopher K. 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