--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful" description: "\"The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful\" — Seamus Heaney" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23c/seamus-heaney-1711_forgetful_the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forget_2523714.png" --- # The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful ![“The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful” quote by Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23c/seamus-heaney-1711_forgetful_the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forget_2523714.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23c/seamus-heaney-1711_forgetful_the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forget_2523714.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23c/seamus-heaney-1711_forgetful_the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forget_2523714.png) > “The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful” [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writing requires losing self‑interest, immersing fully in the act. **In simple terms:** Writing is about forgetting yourself. Key Takeaway Write without ego. Themes creativity humility craft focus Mood introspective inspirational Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - journaling - novel writing - songwriting Key Concepts self‑effacement flow state Practical Applications - Self‑focus can hinder authentic expression. Questions to Reflect On - What does it feel like to lose yourself in a task? A Different Perspective How can you practice self‑forgetfulness while writing? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Forgetful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgetful/) [Gift Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gift-writing-1275854/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Self Forgetful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-forgetful-1275853/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Writing Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-self-372198/) ## Related quotes > [The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful … to get a surge of inner life or inner supply or unexpected sense of empowerment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forgetful-to-get-a-surge-of-inner/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [What one seems to want in art, in experiencing it, is the same thing that is necessary for its creation, a self-forgetful, perfectly useless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bishop/what-one-seems-to-want-in-art-in-experiencing-it-is-the-same-thing/) [Elizabeth Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bishop/) > [No art is sunk in the self, but rather, in art the self becomes self-forgetful in order to meet the demands of the thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/no-art-is-sunk-in-the-self-but-rather-in-art-the-self-becomes-self/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [The gift of creative reading, like all natural gifts, must be nourished or it will atrophy. And you nourish it, in much the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-paterson/the-gift-of-creative-reading-like-all-natural-gifts-must-be-nourished/) [Katherine Paterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-paterson/) > [“What would Jesus do with this gift of writing, this God-given love of writing? What would He write?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cathy-gohlke/what-would-jesus-do-with-this-gift-of-writing-this-god-given-love-of/) [Cathy Gohlke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cathy-gohlke/) > [I want to say that what is cool about writing self-aware first person narrative is that the awareness is not necessarily the same awareness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ottessa-moshfegh/i-want-to-say-that-what-is-cool-about-writing-self-aware-first-person/) [Ottessa Moshfegh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ottessa-moshfegh/) > [Writing is not about self-expression; it is about putting words on paper.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-lish/writing-is-not-about-self-expression-it-is-about-putting-words-on/) [Gordon Lish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-lish/) > [Writing, for me, when I'm writing in the first-person, is like a form of acting. So as I'm writing, the character or self I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-heti/writing-for-me-when-i-m-writing-in-the-first-person-is-like-a-form-of/) [Sheila Heti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-heti/) > [Writing is self employment, so you can make your own schedule.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lois-lowry/writing-is-self-employment-so-you-can-make-your-own-schedule/) [Lois Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lois-lowry/) > [Whenever you're making a movie, especially when you're writing, you always have self-doubts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-lucas/whenever-you-re-making-a-movie-especially-when-you-re-writing-you/) [George Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-lucas/) > [Writing is all about self-editing; it's all about being present being aware of what's happening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-armatrading/writing-is-all-about-self-editing-it-s-all-about-being-present-being/) [Joan Armatrading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-armatrading/) > [Writing is self-taught. Consulting other people only teaches you to depend on their reactions, which may or may not be legitimate. Quit looking for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-grafton/writing-is-self-taught-consulting-other-people-only-teaches-you-to/) [Sue Grafton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-grafton/) > [Writing is self-reinforcing. Don't make a fetish out of it, and don't surrender to the myth of the garret, or the myth of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-lake/writing-is-self-reinforcing-don-t-make-a-fetish-out-of-it-and-don-t/) [Jay Lake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-lake/) > [It's been very jarring for me to stand in public and read about myself and my daughter and her father. I feel like I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-talbot/it-s-been-very-jarring-for-me-to-stand-in-public-and-read-about/) [Jill Talbot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-talbot/) > [“Writing is the self escaping into the open." E.B. White”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/solveig-eggerz/writing-is-the-self-escaping-into-the-open-e-b-white/) [Solveig Eggerz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/solveig-eggerz/) ## More by Seamus Heaney > [You had to come back to learn how to lose yourself, to be pilot and stray-witch, Hansel and Gretel in one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-had-to-come-back-to-learn-how-to-lose-yourself-to-be-pilot-and/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/if-self-is-a-location-so-is-love-bearings-taken-markings-cardinal/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [I'm very conscious that people dear to me are alive in my imagination - poets in particular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-m-very-conscious-that-people-dear-to-me-are-alive-in-my-imagination/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-started-i-felt-safe-enough-but/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [You can have Irish identity in the north and also have your Irish passport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-can-have-irish-identity-in-the-north-and-also-have-your-irish/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [The external reality and inner dynamic of happenings in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1974 were symptomatic of change, violent change admittedly, but change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-external-reality-and-inner-dynamic-of-happenings-in-northern/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Hope for a great sea-change timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/hope-for-a-great-sea-change-timid-to-rebuke-and-too-petty-to-forgive/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [One of the very first poems I wrote was Docker That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic and one of the sturdiest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/one-of-the-very-first-poems-i-wrote-was-docker-that-fist-would-drop-a/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Anything Can Happen is also, incidentally, a poem that arose from teaching. I'd talked about the Horace Ode (I, 34) \[on which the poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/anything-can-happen-is-also-incidentally-a-poem-that-arose-from/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/poetry-is-always-slightly-mysterious-and-you-wonder-what-is-your/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Sink every impulse like a bolt. Secure The bastion of sensation. Do not waver Into language. Do not waver in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/sink-every-impulse-like-a-bolt-secure-the-bastion-of-sensation-do-not/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Two buckets were easier carried than one. / I grew up in between.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/two-buckets-were-easier-carried-than-one-i-grew-up-in-between/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-suppose-i-m-saying-that-defiance-is-actually-part-of-the-lyric-job/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [“It is said that once upon a time St. Kevin was kneeling with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/it-is-said-that-once-upon-a-time-st-kevin-was-kneeling-with-his-arms/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [My father and mother had no sense of entitlement for their children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/my-father-and-mother-had-no-sense-of-entitlement-for-their-children/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) [Explore all 214 Seamus Heaney quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) ## More Forgetful quotes > [The debt immense of endless gratitude, So burthensome, still paying, still to owe; Forgetful what from him I still receivd, And understood not that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/the-debt-immense-of-endless-gratitude-so-burthensome-still-paying/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [“You can't not help people just because they're stupid or forgetful or unpleasant... If I don't help them, who will?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/you-can-t-not-help-people-just-because-they-re-stupid-or-forgetful-or/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Towers in a modern town are a frill and a survival; they seem like the raised hands of the various churches, afraid of being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/towers-in-a-modern-town-are-a-frill-and-a-survival-they-seem-like-the/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Daily fervent prayers seeking forgiveness and special help and direction are essential to our lives and the nourishment of our testimonies. When we become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-l-staheli/daily-fervent-prayers-seeking-forgiveness-and-special-help-and/) [Donald L. Staheli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-l-staheli/) > [“When my children complain that I'm forgetful, I remind them that DAD is just ADD spelled sideways.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harvey-stanbrough/when-my-children-complain-that-i-m-forgetful-i-remind-them-that-dad/) [Harvey Stanbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harvey-stanbrough/) > [There is a perennial nobleness, and even sacredness, in work. Were he never so benighted, forgetful of his high calling, there is always hope…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/there-is-a-perennial-nobleness-and-even-sacredness-in-work-were-he/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget--lest we forget!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudyard-kipling/lord-god-of-hosts-be-with-us-yet-lest-we-forget-lest-we-forget/) [Rudyard Kipling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudyard-kipling/) > [“Bah, Alzheimer’s. Grandma wouldn’t be so forgetful if she didn’t always have dick on her mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/bah-alzheimer-s-grandma-wouldn-t-be-so-forgetful-if-she-didn-t-always/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [“What forgetful moron frantically looks for car keys that are in his pocket? Me, that’s who.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-forgetful-moron-frantically-looks-for-car-keys-that-are-in-his/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Nowadays games immediately appear on the Internet and thus the life of novelties is measured in hours. Modern professionals do not have the right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-kasparov/nowadays-games-immediately-appear-on-the-internet-and-thus-the-life/) [Garry Kasparov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-kasparov/) > [Genius in poverty is never feared, because nature, though liberal in her gifts in one instance, is forgetful in another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-haydon/genius-in-poverty-is-never-feared-because-nature-though-liberal-in/) [Benjamin Haydon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-haydon/) > [What passes for love is imperfect knowledge. Not knowing, initially, allows faithlessness to dress up as its opposite; casts the inarticulate as enigmatic, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-laird/what-passes-for-love-is-imperfect-knowledge-not-knowing-initially/) [Nick Laird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-laird/) > [I valued the experience of making the recordings, and I value the performances contained therein, and I value so much of what they can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-oldham/i-valued-the-experience-of-making-the-recordings-and-i-value-the/) [Will Oldham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-oldham/) > [The human being is not a fallen being in need of redemption but rather a forgetful being who must be reminded of God and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-e-b-lumbard/the-human-being-is-not-a-fallen-being-in-need-of-redemption-but/) [Joseph E. B. Lumbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-e-b-lumbard/) > [Meek young men grow up in libraries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/meek-young-men-grow-up-in-libraries/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Browse all 98 Forgetful quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgetful/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Seamus Heaney" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forgetful/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Forgetful" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forgetful/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23c/seamus-heaney-1711_forgetful_the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forget_2523714.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23c/seamus-heaney-1711_forgetful_the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forget_2523714.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23c/seamus-heaney-1711_forgetful_the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forget_2523714.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful” — Seamus Heaney", "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": "Seamus Heaney", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The gift of writing is to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forgetful/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-gift-of-writing-is-to-be-self-forgetful/#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 } } ] } ```