---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Maybe we were the Diggers of literature."
description: "\"“Maybe we were the Diggers of literature.”\" — Wallace Stegner"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aed/wallace-stegner-1352_books_maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-literature_1798793.png"
---

#  Maybe we were the Diggers of literature.

![“Maybe we were the Diggers of literature.” quote by Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aed/wallace-stegner-1352_books_maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-literature_1798793.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aed/wallace-stegner-1352_books_maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-literature_1798793.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aed/wallace-stegner-1352_books_maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-literature_1798793.png)

> ““Maybe we were the Diggers of literature.””

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

He humorously suggests writers are like diggers, unearthing stories and ideas, shaping literature through discovery.

**In simple terms:** Writers uncover hidden stories.

Key Takeaway

Write and discover.

Themes

creativity literature discovery craft influence

Mood

reflective playful introspective

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- writing retreats
- literary workshops
- publishing houses
- academic courses

Key Concepts

metaphor artistic process cultural contribution

Questions to Reflect On

- What stories lie beneath everyday life?
- How does discovery shape your writing?

A Different Perspective

Not all writers find success equally.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Diggers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diggers-2014059/) [Diggers Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diggers-literature-2014057/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Maybe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/maybe/) [Maybe Diggers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/maybe-diggers-2014058/)

## Related quotes

> [Gold diggers are the wife beaters of men!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-burr/gold-diggers-are-the-wife-beaters-of-men/)

[Bill Burr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-burr/)

> [“I pitted two ditch diggers against each other, to see who could dig a pit the fastest.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-pitted-two-ditch-diggers-against-each-other-to-see-who-could-dig-a/)

[Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/)

> [It's darker than a well diggers ass.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-teti/it-s-darker-than-a-well-diggers-ass/)

[Joe Teti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-teti/)

> [Today we commemorate our diggers, it's a day to thank them for their service & remember those who died defending our freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/today-we-commemorate-our-diggers-it-s-a-day-to-thank-them-for-their/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The world needs ditch diggers, too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-knight/the-world-needs-ditch-diggers-too/)

[Ted Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-knight/)

> [“The rest were mere diggers of the soil, treaders of grapes or hewers of wood, who had been suddenly and violently preferred to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-rest-were-mere-diggers-of-the-soil-treaders-of-grapes-or-hewers/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [From an early age, I had the idea that writing was truth-telling. It's on the record. Everybody can see it. Maybe it goes back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-white/from-an-early-age-i-had-the-idea-that-writing-was-truth-telling-it-s/)

[Edmund White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-white/)

> [One of the things my success as an author has forced me to face is how dysfunctional... Maybe that's a strong word, but how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-faber/one-of-the-things-my-success-as-an-author-has-forced-me-to-face-is/)

[Michel Faber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-faber/)

> [The memoir by women, read by female readers, is considered a market form, not "great literature."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-zambreno/the-memoir-by-women-read-by-female-readers-is-considered-a-market/)

[Kate Zambreno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-zambreno/)

> [“We ought to know the history of our ancient ancestors.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/we-ought-to-know-the-history-of-our-ancient-ancestors/)

[Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/)

> [You get below the Mason-Dixon line and you have some of the best music, culture, the two races, the literature, and it's so rich.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-duvall/you-get-below-the-mason-dixon-line-and-you-have-some-of-the-best/)

[Robert Duvall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-duvall/)

> [But I think that of all the literature that I studied, the book that did more than any other to fire my enthusiasm was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kwame-nkrumah/but-i-think-that-of-all-the-literature-that-i-studied-the-book-that/)

[Kwame Nkrumah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kwame-nkrumah/)

> [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/)

[Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/)

> [“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/)

> [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/)

## More by Wallace Stegner

> [“I have to blame myself for not finding any way of reaching him, but I can't feel that either Ruth or I had anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-have-to-blame-myself-for-not-finding-any-way-of-reaching-him-but-i/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [No life goes past so swiftly as an eventless one, no clock spins like a clock whose days are all alike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/no-life-goes-past-so-swiftly-as-an-eventless-one-no-clock-spins-like/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [“within yourself, you became a grave for her as you were a grave for Chet, and you carried your dead unquietly within you. —”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/within-yourself-you-became-a-grave-for-her-as-you-were-a-grave-for/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [Towns are like people. Old ones often have character, the new ones are interchangeable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/towns-are-like-people-old-ones-often-have-character-the-new-ones-are/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [By his very profession, a serious fiction writer is a vendor of the sensuous particulars of life, a perceiver and handler of things. His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/by-his-very-profession-a-serious-fiction-writer-is-a-vendor-of-the/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [“The creative writer is compulsively concrete . . . . His fictional house should be haunted by ideas, not inhabited by them; they should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/the-creative-writer-is-compulsively-concrete-his-fictional-house/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [Hard writing makes easy reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/hard-writing-makes-easy-reading/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [You married me...but you didn't marry what you could make out of me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/you-married-me-but-you-didn-t-marry-what-you-could-make-out-of-me/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [Wisdom. . .is knowing what you have to accept.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/wisdom-is-knowing-what-you-have-to-accept/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [“His mouth is full of ecology, his mind is full of fumes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/his-mouth-is-full-of-ecology-his-mind-is-full-of-fumes/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [I gave my heart to the mountains the minute I stood beside this river with its spray in my face and watched it thunder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-gave-my-heart-to-the-mountains-the-minute-i-stood-beside-this-river/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [“Poetry ought to be a by-product of living, and you can't have a by-product unless you've got a product first .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/poetry-ought-to-be-a-by-product-of-living-and-you-can-t-have-a-by/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/something-will-have-gone-out-of-us-as-a-people-if-we-ever-let-the/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [“Some people, I am told, have memories like computers, nothing to do but punch the button and wait for the print-out. Mine is more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/some-people-i-am-told-have-memories-like-computers-nothing-to-do-but/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

> [ “\[Y\]ou were too alert to the figurative possibilities of words not to see the phrase \[angle of repose\] as descriptive of human as well… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/y-ou-were-too-alert-to-the-figurative-possibilities-of-words-not-to/)

[Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

[Explore all 251 Wallace Stegner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/)

## 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. Krebs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-k-krebs/)

> [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/)

[Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/)

> [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/)

[Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/)

> [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/)

[Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/)

> [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/)

[Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/)

> [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/)

[Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/)

> [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/)

[Markus Herz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-herz/)

> [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/)

[Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/)

[Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“Maybe we were the Diggers of literature.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Wallace Stegner"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-literature/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Books"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-literature/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aed/wallace-stegner-1352_books_maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-literature_1798793.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aed/wallace-stegner-1352_books_maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-literature_1798793.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aed/wallace-stegner-1352_books_maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-literature_1798793.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Maybe we were the Diggers of literature.” — Wallace Stegner",
                "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": "Wallace Stegner",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“Maybe we were the Diggers of...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-literature/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/maybe-we-were-the-diggers-of-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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```