--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The culture is still there, and people…" description: "\"The culture is still there, and people are still doing it. I imagine some people are doing it very well indeed. As for me, it definitely was my native ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e1e/william-gibson-642_conventional_the-culture-is-still-there-and-people-ar_394576.png" --- # The culture is still there, and people are still doing it… ![“The culture is still there, and people are still doing it. I imagine some people are doing it very well indeed. As for me, it definitely was my native literary culture. Science fiction was where I'm from, but on the way to now, I went through a lot of other territory, and I wasn't really that…” quote by William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e1e/william-gibson-642_conventional_the-culture-is-still-there-and-people-ar_394576.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e1e/william-gibson-642_conventional_the-culture-is-still-there-and-people-ar_394576.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e1e/william-gibson-642_conventional_the-culture-is-still-there-and-people-ar_394576.png) > “The culture is still there, and people are still doing it. I imagine some people are doing it very well indeed. As for me, it definitely was my native literary culture. Science fiction was where I'm from, but on the way to now, I went through a lot of other territory, and I wasn't really that culturally conventional an SF writer when I started.” [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author’s background in science fiction shaped his identity, yet he explored diverse genres before settling into his niche. **In simple terms:** His roots in sci‑fi influence his work despite varied experiences. Key Takeaway Embrace your origins while exploring broadly. Themes identity genre evolution Mood analytical creative Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - writing workshops - genre blending - personal branding - publishing decisions Key Concepts literature creative process career development Questions to Reflect On - How do your early influences shape current projects? - Can you integrate multiple genres? A Different Perspective Genre expectations can limit perception. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Science fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science-fiction/) [Territory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/territory/) ## Related quotes > [From 1968 on, I was pretty much the black, gay SF writer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/from-1968-on-i-was-pretty-much-the-black-gay-sf-writer/) [Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/) > [“I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/i-want-to-write-about-people-i-love-and-put-them-into-a-fictional-3/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [Jeff Carver is a hard sf writer who gets it right-his science and his people are equally convincing. NEPTUNE CROSSING combines his strengths, from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-benford/jeff-carver-is-a-hard-sf-writer-who-gets-it-right-his-science-and-his/) [Gregory Benford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-benford/) > [As an SF writer, you've got the infinite toolkit of the writer at your disposal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alastair-reynolds/as-an-sf-writer-you-ve-got-the-infinite-toolkit-of-the-writer-at-your/) [Alastair Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alastair-reynolds/) > [“If the weakness of mainstream fiction is its deliberate smallness, the weakness of sf is its puffed-up size, its gauzy immensities. SF often pays…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kessel/if-the-weakness-of-mainstream-fiction-is-its-deliberate-smallness-the/) [John Kessel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kessel/) > [“For centuries, no one was concerned that books weren’t girl-friendly, because no one really cared if girls read; but even so, we persisted for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/foz-meadows/for-centuries-no-one-was-concerned-that-books-weren-t-girl-friendly/) [Foz Meadows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/foz-meadows/) > [I wonder what it means about American literary culture and its transmission when I consider the number of American poets who earn their living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-hacker/i-wonder-what-it-means-about-american-literary-culture-and-its/) [Marilyn Hacker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-hacker/) > [Japan, Germany, and India seem to me to have serious writers, readers, and book buyers, but the Netherlands has struck me as the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/japan-germany-and-india-seem-to-me-to-have-serious-writers-readers/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [The literary culture, if you examine it, the high literary culture is that which preserves the government and you know it's really the talk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-acker/the-literary-culture-if-you-examine-it-the-high-literary-culture-is/) [Kathy Acker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathy-acker/) > [A good part of 'The Information' is about the transition from an oral to a literary culture. 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Amazingly, people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/593-still-very-still-at-the-heart-of-literary-culture-is-the-big/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [“Hacks are killing our national literary culture. America treats best-sellers like literary lions and literary lions worse than stray dogs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-lentz/hacks-are-killing-our-national-literary-culture-america-treats-best/) [David B. Lentz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-lentz/) > [If a nation allows its literary culture to die, it's a sign that it doesn't fundamentally care.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/if-a-nation-allows-its-literary-culture-to-die-it-s-a-sign-that-it/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) ## More by William Gibson > [“We have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/we-have-no-idea-now-of-who-or-what-the-inhabitants-of-our-future/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“No," said Blackwell, "she won't, because that would be a violation of the very personal terms I will have established in our conversation. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/no-said-blackwell-she-won-t-because-that-would-be-a-violation-of-the/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Music was strange that way though; there were people into any damned thing, it seemed like, and if you got enough of them together…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/music-was-strange-that-way-though-there-were-people-into-any-damned/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [When I start writing a new imaginary future, I have no idea what it is. The characters arrive first. They help me figure out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-i-start-writing-a-new-imaginary-future-i-have-no-idea-what-it-is/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Hollis thought he looked like William Burroughs, minus the bohemian substrate (or perhaps the methadone). Like someone who'd be invited quail shooting with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/hollis-thought-he-looked-like-william-burroughs-minus-the-bohemian/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Fiction is an illusion wrought with many small, conventionally symbolic marks, triggering visions in the minds of others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/fiction-is-an-illusion-wrought-with-many-small-conventionally/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [The experience of celebrity is gradually being democratized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/the-experience-of-celebrity-is-gradually-being-democratized/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [I don't generate a storyline and then fill it out in the course of writing. The story actually generates in the course of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/i-don-t-generate-a-storyline-and-then-fill-it-out-in-the-course-of/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“What happened to your arm?" she asked me one night in the Gentleman Loser, the three of us drinking at a small table in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/what-happened-to-your-arm-she-asked-me-one-night-in-the-gentleman/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“In Heathrow a vast chunk of memory detached itself from a blank bowl of airport sky and fell on him. He vomited into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/in-heathrow-a-vast-chunk-of-memory-detached-itself-from-a-blank-bowl/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/and-for-an-instant-she-stared-directly-into-those-soft-blue-eyes-and/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [ \[When\] Johnny Mnemonic was coming out and I realized that all the kids that worked in 7-11 knew more - or thought they knew… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-johnny-mnemonic-was-coming-out-and-i-realized-that-all-the-kids/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Andrea maintained that men like Alain lied so constantly, so passionately, that some basic distinction had been lost. They were artists in their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/andrea-maintained-that-men-like-alain-lied-so-constantly-so/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Because he had a good agent, he had a good contract. Because he had a good contract, he was in Singapore an hour after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/because-he-had-a-good-agent-he-had-a-good-contract-because-he-had-a/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) [Explore all 430 William Gibson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## More Conventional quotes > [Whether you are buying a car or casting a ballot, choosing a job or planning a family, follow your moral compass. 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We weren't wealthy, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-child/my-father-was-in-real-estate-banking-and-land-management-as-family/) [Julia Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-child/) > [Our Christian faith is actually very subversive of the conventional notion of success - the notion that what invests a person with worth is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desmond-tutu/our-christian-faith-is-actually-very-subversive-of-the-conventional/) [Desmond Tutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desmond-tutu/) > [I think you will learn to be natural with me, as I find it impossible to be conventional with you](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/i-think-you-will-learn-to-be-natural-with-me-as-i-find-it-impossible/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [What's different now is that while political leaders used to give talking points to talk radio, now talk-radio hosts are giving talking points to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-avlon/what-s-different-now-is-that-while-political-leaders-used-to-give/) [John Avlon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-avlon/) > [Some days, I think maybe we should try and be a little more conventional, but every time I try, I fail, so I'm learning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seinabo-sey/some-days-i-think-maybe-we-should-try-and-be-a-little-more/) [Seinabo Sey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seinabo-sey/) > [The vision of extraordinary achievement is,by definition, a few steps beyond consensus and conventional logic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-belsky/the-vision-of-extraordinary-achievement-is-by-definition-a-few-steps/) [Scott Belsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-belsky/) > [“Can you make me remember the conventional way?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-ellen-malpas/can-you-make-me-remember-the-conventional-way/) [Jodi Ellen Malpas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-ellen-malpas/) > [Nobody can live in society without conventions. 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