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Space plus whatever you feel equals more whatever you feel, marvelous for happiness, God save you otherwise.

Bernard Malamud

For misery don’t blame God. He gives the food but we cook it.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Blame Giving Misery
First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about. Revision is working with that knowledge to enlarge and enhance an idea, to re-form it….
BERNARD MALAMUD

Book Firsts Ideas
Overnight business could go down enough to hurt; yet as a rule it slowly recovered-sometimes it seemed to take forever-went up, not high enough to be really up, only not down.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Down Forever Hurt Obstacles Overnight
Teach yourself to work in uncertainty.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Teaching Uncertainty Writing
There comes a time in a man’s life when to get where he has to go – if there are no doors or windows he walks through a wall.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Men Tattoo Walk Wall Window
We have two lives, the life we learn with and the life we live with after that. Suffering is what brings us toward happiness.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Life Live Suffering Two
Comedy, I imagine, is harder to do consistently than tragedy, but I like it spiced in the wine of sadness.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Sadness Tragedy Wine
First drafts are for learning what your story is about.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Draft Firsts Learn Stories
If you ever forget you are a Jew a goy will remind you.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Few Forget Jokes Remind
The purpose of freedom is to create it for others.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Freedom Others Purpose
The wild begins where you least expect it, one step off your normal course
BERNARD MALAMUD

Course Normal Steps
And if at all possible, give order to; but one must not withdraw from the task if he has some small things to offer – he does so at the risk of diminishing his humanity.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Diminishing Humanity Small Some Withdraw
Writers who can’t invent stories often substitute style for narrative. They remind me of the painter who couldn’t paint people, so he painted chairs.
BERNARD MALAMUD

People Stories Style
We have in my country (Russia) a quotation: “It is impossible to make out of apology a fur coat.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Apology Country Russia
A writer has to surprise himself to be worth reading.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Reading Surprise Worth
What suffering has taught me is the uselessness of suffering.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Suffering Taught Uselessness
In my dreams I ate and I ate my dreams.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Ate Dream Success
A man had to learn, it was his nature.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Learning Men Nature
I don’t think you can do anything for anyone without giving up something of your own.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Give Up Giving Thinking
Of course it would cost something, but he was an expert in cutting corners; and when there were no more corners left he would make circles rounder.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Circles Cutting Experts
The first draft of a book is the most uncertain-where you need guts, the ability to accept the imperfect until it is better.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Accept Book Imperfect Uncertain Until
If the stories come, you get them written, you’re on the right track. Eventually everyone learns his or her own best way. The real mystery to crack is you.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Cracks Eventually Mystery Real Track
You can’t eat language but it eases thirst.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Ease Language Thirst
Reader, I am myself the subject of my book; you would be unreasonable to spend your leisure on so frivolous and so vain a matter.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Book Frivolous Leisure Matter
We can’t all be friends and relatives as the world is; most of us have to be strangers.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Human Relations Stranger World
Without heroes, we are all plain people and don’t know how far we can go.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Courage Inspirational Inspiring
I work with language. I love the flowers of afterthought.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Afterthought Flower Language

Space plus whatever you feel equals more whatever you feel, marvelous for happiness, God save you otherwise.

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Space plus whatever you feel equals more whatever you feel, marvelous for happiness, God save you otherwise.

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Popular Authors

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