--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Literature usually begets literature." description: "\"Literature usually begets literature.\" — Susan Sontag" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2e/susan-sontag-332_begets_literature-usually-begets-literature-292_292111.jpg" --- # Literature usually begets literature. ![“Literature usually begets literature.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2e/susan-sontag-332_begets_literature-usually-begets-literature-292_292111.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2e/susan-sontag-332_begets_literature-usually-begets-literature-292_292111.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2e/susan-sontag-332_begets_literature-usually-begets-literature-292_292111.jpg) > “Literature usually begets literature.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Literature inspires more literature, creating a self‑reinforcing cycle of ideas and artistic expression. **In simple terms:** Books lead to more books. Key Takeaway Read and create to keep ideas flowing. Themes creativity influence art Mood thoughtful inspirational Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing workshops - literary criticism - publishing - education Key Concepts intertextuality cultural transmission Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance inspiration with innovation? - What role does originality play in a tradition? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on past works may limit originality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Begets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begets/) [Begets Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begets-literature-2807972/) [Funny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Literature Usually](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature-usually-578217/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Usually](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/usually/) [Usually Begets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/usually-begets-2807973/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [It strikes me as somewhat odd that the people who use God's name most frequently, both in life and in literature, usually don't believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-l-engle/it-strikes-me-as-somewhat-odd-that-the-people-who-use-god-s-name-most/) [Madeleine L'Engle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-l-engle/) > [The forward march of American literature is usually chronicled by way of its male novelists. 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I've been offered a lot of movies now that '30 Rock' has been successful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alec-baldwin/success-begets-success-i-ve-been-offered-a-lot-of-movies-now-that-30/) [Alec Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alec-baldwin/) > [ The messiness \[in my books\] is nothing like an Atwood novel. 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Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [Cognitive and character skills work together as dynamic complements; they are inseparable. Skills beget skills. More motivated children learn more. Those who are more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-heckman/cognitive-and-character-skills-work-together-as-dynamic-complements/) [James Heckman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-heckman/) > [Neatness begets order; but from order to taste there is the same difference as from taste to genius, or from love to friendship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-kaspar-lavater/neatness-begets-order-but-from-order-to-taste-there-is-the-same/) [Johann Kaspar Lavater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-kaspar-lavater/) > [Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/somewhere-somebody-must-have-some-sense-men-must-see-that-force/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/like-the-collector-the-photographer-is-animated-by-a-passion-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“Why not eliminate schooling between age 12-16? 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To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More Begets quotes > [Somewhere somebody must have some sense. 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Those who are more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-heckman/cognitive-and-character-skills-work-together-as-dynamic-complements/) [James Heckman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-heckman/) > [Suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counter-weapons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/suspicion-on-one-side-breeds-suspicion-on-the-other-and-new-weapons/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [Energy begets energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dolly-parton/energy-begets-energy/) [Dolly Parton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dolly-parton/) > [War destroys. War obliterates. War is ruination. And war begets more war. After thousands of years of experience proving this, and reams of literature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-simeone/war-destroys-war-obliterates-war-is-ruination-and-war-begets-more-war/) [Lisa Simeone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-simeone/) > [Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enoch/come-let-us-choose-us-wives-from-among-the-children-of-men-and-beget/) [Enoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enoch/) > [ The messiness \[in my books\] is nothing like an Atwood novel. For me, the deeper subjects are secrets versus intimacy, and how both beget… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edan-lepucki/the-messiness-in-my-books-is-nothing-like-an-atwood-novel-for-me-the/) [Edan Lepucki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edan-lepucki/) > [Success begets success. I've been offered a lot of movies now that '30 Rock' has been successful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alec-baldwin/success-begets-success-i-ve-been-offered-a-lot-of-movies-now-that-30/) [Alec Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alec-baldwin/) > [“Prayer begets peace.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/prayer-begets-peace/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“One evil begets another and another.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bronwen-griffiths/one-evil-begets-another-and-another/) [Bronwen Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bronwen-griffiths/) > [Sport begets tumultuous strife and wrath, and wrath begets fierce quarrels and war to the death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/sport-begets-tumultuous-strife-and-wrath-and-wrath-begets-fierce/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [They maintain that only a dictatorship - their dictatorship, of course - can create the will of the people, while our answer to this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-bakunin/they-maintain-that-only-a-dictatorship-their-dictatorship-of-course/) [Mikhail Bakunin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-bakunin/) > [Fortunately work begets work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-warburton/fortunately-work-begets-work/) [Patrick Warburton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-warburton/) > [Trust begets trust and untrust begets untrust. It's natural.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/munshi-premchand/trust-begets-trust-and-untrust-begets-untrust-it-s-natural/) [Munshi Premchand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/munshi-premchand/) [Browse all 257 Begets quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begets/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Literature usually begets literature.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susan Sontag" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/literature-usually-begets-literature/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Begets" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/literature-usually-begets-literature/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2e/susan-sontag-332_begets_literature-usually-begets-literature-292_292111.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2e/susan-sontag-332_begets_literature-usually-begets-literature-292_292111.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2e/susan-sontag-332_begets_literature-usually-begets-literature-292_292111.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Literature usually begets literature.” — Susan Sontag", "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": "Susan Sontag", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Literature usually begets literature.", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/literature-usually-begets-literature/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/literature-usually-begets-literature/#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 } } ] } ```