"I simply write what I want, wish, long to write.... The state of human life and the god or demon within. The constant internal war that being alive can conjure."
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Quote collection
Tanith Lee quotes (page 2 of 5)
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"I must suppose that reading wonderful writers may, inadvertently, teach an avid reader a great deal -- not only about life and other matters, but about how to write. Therefore doubtless I have benefited from frequent immersions in the glowing genius of others. It would be nice to think so. (I do actually think so). But to improve my skills will never be the prompting force of my reading -- that's just literary lust."
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"I like writing about women, weak and strong, pathetic and heroic. I like writing about men, ditto. And all the variants of men and women, beasts and demons."
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"Writers tell stories better, because they've had more practice, but everyone has a book in them. Yes, that old cliche."
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"I love writers all across the board, but one who influenced me very directly at the beginning was Mary Renault."
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"I hardly ever work from a synopsis -- I find they act like chains."
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"It's very selfish when I write. I'm not aware, ever, of writing for another person; I'm not even really aware of writing for myself."
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"If they had said my writing wasn't good enough, fair enough, that's an opinion. But to say it's too complex is to insult the intelligence of the so-called young."
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"As a child, my mother told me lots of fairy stories, many her own invention. She, too, tended to reverse the norm."
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"I like films, or some films, and would be intrigued to see my work on screen."
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"I hate the way, once you start to know someone, care about them, their behavior can distress you, even when it's unreasonable and not your fault, even if you were really trying to be careful, tactful."
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"Im writing what comes into my head, or through me, or from somewhere else, and it is the most extraordinary, exciting thing. I love it, and Im very greedy, and I really enjoy it!"
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"In the greater part of humankind there resides an instinct for survival. It is this which can clutch at straws and effect a rescue from them. It is this which can, now and then, outwit fate."
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"Ecstasy and vulnerability belonged in the same dish. The fear the cup would be snatched away was what gave the wine its savor."
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"Madness. I did not get myself born to die. I have better things to do."
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"We need the expressive arts, the ancient scribes, the storytellers, the priests. And that's where I put myself: as a storyteller. Not necessarily a high priestess, but certainly the storyteller. And I would love to be the storyteller of the tribe."
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"World's flying like birds; my car's in flight. The city lights are spattered on my windshield like the fragments of the night. And I'm in flight. The sky's a wheel, a merry-go-round of wings and snow and steel, and fire. We'll tread the sky, we'll ride the scarlet horses."
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"The worst vulgarity is to avoid vulgarity solely on the grounds that it is vulgar."
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"If anyone ever wonders why there's nothing coming from me, it's not my fault. I'm doing the work. No, I haven't deteriorated or gone insane. Suddenly, I just can't get anything into print. And apparently I'm not alone in this. There are people of very high standing, authors who are having problems. So I have been told. In my own case, the more disturbing element is the editor-in-chief who said to me, "I think this book is terrific. It ought to be in print. I can't publish it -- I've been told I mustn't." The indication is that I'm not writing what people want to read, but I never did."
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"I began to feel lighthearted. Don't ever do that; it tempts some dark and evil force abroad in the universe."
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