Sherwood Anderson Quotes about Writing

I think the whole glory of writing lies in the fact that it forces us out of ourselves and into the lives of others.

I think the whole glory of writing lies in the fact that it forces us out of ourselves and into the lives of others.

Lying, Writing, Thinking

Sherwood Anderson (1953). “Letters: selected and edited with an introd. and notes by Howard Mumford Jones, in association with Walter B. Rideout”

The fools who write articles about me think that one morning I suddenly decided to write and began to produce masterpieces. There is no special trick about writing, or painting either. I wrote constantly for 15 years before I produced anything with any solidity to it.

Sherwood Anderson

Morning, Writing, Thinking

Sherwood Anderson (1953). “Letters: selected and edited with an introd. and notes by Howard Mumford Jones, in association with Walter B. Rideout”

I have seldom written a story, long or short, that I did not have to write and rewrite. There are single stories of mine that have taken me ten or twelve years to get written.

Sherwood Anderson

Taken, Writing, Years

Sherwood Anderson, Martha Mulroy Curry (1975). “The "Writer's book"”

If you are to become a writer you'll have to stop fooling with words.

Sherwood Anderson

Writing, Ifs

Sherwood Anderson (2012). “Sherwood Anderson: Collected Stories: Winesburg, Ohio / The Triumph of the Egg / Horses and Men / Death in the Woods / Uncollected Stories (Library of America #235)”, p.155, Library of America

If I can write everything out plainly, perhaps I will myself understand better what has happened.

Sherwood Anderson

Writing, Happened, Ifs

Sherwood Anderson (2012). “Sherwood Anderson: Collected Stories: Winesburg, Ohio / The Triumph of the Egg / Horses and Men / Death in the Woods / Uncollected Stories (Library of America #235)”, p.987, Library of America

When a man publishes a book, there are so many stupid things said that he declares he'll never do it again. The praise is almost always worse than the criticism.

Sherwood Anderson

Stupid, Book, Writing

The writing of words can lead to all sorts of absurdities.

Sherwood Anderson

Writing, Absurdity

Sherwood Anderson (1969). “Sherwood Anderson's memoirs: a critical edition”

I feel that I am writing out of a full life. I am a rich man, rich in men known, in adventures had. I am rich with living.

Sherwood Anderson

Money, Writing, Adventure

Sherwood Anderson (1969). “Sherwood Anderson's memoirs: a critical edition”

From the place by the railing at the edge of the tracks on the summer evening I return across the city to my own room. I am vividly aware of my own life that escaped the winter on the boat. How many such lives I have lived. Then I only made a dollar and a half a day and now I sometimes make more than that in a few minutes. How wonderful to be able to write words. ... Again I begin the endless game of reconstructing my own life, jerking it out of the shell that dies, striving to breathe into it beauty and meaning. ... I wonder why my life, why all lives, are not more beautiful.

Sherwood Anderson

Beautiful, Summer, Writing

I am constantly amazed at how little painters know about painting, writers about writing, merchants about business, manufacturers about manufacturing. Most men just drift.

Sherwood Anderson

Writing, Knowledge, Men

Sherwood Anderson (1953). “Letters: selected and edited with an introd. and notes by Howard Mumford Jones, in association with Walter B. Rideout”