English language Quote by Virginia Woolf
““He soon perceived, however, that the battles which Sir Miles and the rest had waged against armed knights to win a kingdom, were not half so arduous as this which he now undertook to win immortality against the English language. Anyone moderately familiar with the rigours of composition will not need to be told the story in detail; how he wrote and it seemed good; read and it seemed vile; corrected and tore up; cut out; put in; was in ecstasy; in despair; had his good nights and bad mornings; snatched at ideas and lost them; saw his book plain before him and it vanished; acted his people's parts as he ate; mouthed them as he walked; now cried; now laughed; vacillated between this style and that; now preferred the heroic and pompous; next the plain and simple; now the vales of Tempe; then the fields of Kent or Cornwall; and could not decide whether he was the divinest genius or the greatest fool in the world.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: The Waves, 1931
Writing is a relentless struggle between inspiration and self‑criticism, often feeling chaotic and exhausting.
In simple terms: Writing is a hard battle of ideas and doubt.
Key Takeaway
Embrace the chaos as part of the creative process.
Themes
creative struggle
self‑criticism
artistic perseverance
Mood
introspective
melancholic
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- novel drafting
- academic writing
- personal journaling
Key Concepts
literary ambition
mental endurance
artistic identity
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you balance inspiration with critique?
- When does editing become counterproductive?
A Different Perspective
The endless self‑editing can stall progress.
![“The story [of Allied ] itself is the story I wrote, and that's what's great about Bob [Zemeckis ]. You have meetings, but it's meetings for clarity, not to change what they're saying or doing. He takes what's on the page and executes it so brilliantly.” quote by Steven Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/948/steven-knight-2205_bob_the-story-of-allied-itself-is-the-story_767740.jpg)
