--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is nothing sacred about literature…" description: "\"“There is nothing sacred about literature, it is damned from one end to the other. There is nothing in literature but change and change is mockery. I'l..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b57/william-carlos-williams-1841_books_there-is-nothing-sacred-about-literature_2640460.jpg" --- # There is nothing sacred about literature, it is damned… ![“There is nothing sacred about literature, it is damned from one end to the other. There is nothing in literature but change and change is mockery. I'll write whatever I damn please, whenever I damn please and as I damn please and it'll be good if the authentic spirit of change is on it.” quote by William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b57/william-carlos-williams-1841_books_there-is-nothing-sacred-about-literature_2640460.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b57/william-carlos-williams-1841_books_there-is-nothing-sacred-about-literature_2640460.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b57/william-carlos-williams-1841_books_there-is-nothing-sacred-about-literature_2640460.jpg) > ““There is nothing sacred about literature, it is damned from one end to the other. There is nothing in literature but change and change is mockery. I'll write whatever I damn please, whenever I damn please and as I damn please and it'll be good if the authentic spirit of change is on it.”” [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Literature is inherently chaotic and mutable; the author should write freely, embracing change as authentic expression. **In simple terms:** Writing should be free and change‑driven. Key Takeaway Write without constraints. Themes literature authenticity change creativity rebellion Mood defiant creative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - novel writing - poetry - journalism - creative workshops Key Concepts postmodernism artistic freedom Questions to Reflect On - How does change enhance authenticity? - When is structure beneficial? A Different Perspective Unstructured writing may lack coherence. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) ## Related quotes > [“Critics and academics have been trying for forty years to bury the greatest work of imaginative fiction in English. They ignore it, they condescend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/critics-and-academics-have-been-trying-for-forty-years-to-bury-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Ideas are interesting to me, and religions are a place where ideas have been very subtly embodied for thousands of years. All literature started…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/ideas-are-interesting-to-me-and-religions-are-a-place-where-ideas/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“Our sacred literature does not use obscure language, but describes most things in words clearly indicating their meaning. Therefore it is necessary at all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samson-raphael-hirsch/our-sacred-literature-does-not-use-obscure-language-but-describes/) [Samson Raphael Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samson-raphael-hirsch/) > [“What matters in the end in literature, what is always there, is the truly good. And -- though played out forms can throw up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-s-naipaul-2/what-matters-in-the-end-in-literature-what-is-always-there-is-the/) [V.S. Naipaul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-s-naipaul-2/) > [What matters in the end in literature, what is always there, is the truly good. 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You can't stop it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/i-think-all-writing-is-a-disease-you-can-t-stop-it/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [The beauty is in the eye of the beholder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/the-beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [“You're a romanticist. What do you think a man is, a papaya? To digest your dinner? 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But poetry is the machine which drives it, pruned to a perfect economy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/prose-may-carry-a-load-of-ill-defined-matters-like-a-ship-but-poetry/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [It is not what you say that matters but the manner in which you say it; there lies the secret of the ages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/it-is-not-what-you-say-that-matters-but-the-manner-in-which-you-say/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [“And a church spire sketched on the sky, of sheet metal and open beams, to resemble a church spire”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/and-a-church-spire-sketched-on-the-sky-of-sheet-metal-and-open-beams/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) [Explore all 204 William Carlos Williams quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) ## 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! 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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. 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