What is the purpose of writing? For me personally, it is really to explain the mystery of life, and the mystery of life includes, of course, the personal, the political, the forces that make us what we are while there’s another force from inside battling to make us something else.
NADINE GORDIMERNothing factual that I write or say will be as truthful as my fiction.
More Nadine Gordimer Quotes
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In a country like South Africa, writers have nuisance value, because those of us who have become known overseas have certainly helped to inform people about what life is like there.
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There is no moral authority like that of sacrifice.
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it’s impossible to conquer all fear and loss by preparation. There are always sources of desolation that aren’t taken into account because no one knows what they will be.
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The tension between standing apart, and being fully involved; that is what makes a writer.
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Peace. The upland serenity of high altitude, the openness of grassland without indigenous bush or trees; the greening, yellowing or silver-browning that prevailed, according to season.
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It was a miracle; it was all a miracle: and one ought to have known, from the sufferings of saints, that miracles are horror.
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a writer doesn’t only need the time when he’s actually writing – he or she has got to have time to think and time just to let things work out. Nothing is worse for this than society. Nothing is worse for this than the abrasive, if enjoyable, effect of other people.
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I have failed at many things, but I have never been afraid.
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Humans, the only self-regarding animals, blessed or cursed with this torturing higher faculty, have always wanted to know why.
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If I dreamt this, while walking, walking in the London streets, the subconscious of each and every other life, past and present, brushing me in passing, what makes it real? Writing it down.
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Success sometimes may be defined as a disaster put on hold. Qualified. Has to be.
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The solitude of writing is also quite frightening. It’s quite close to madness, one just disappears for a day and loses touch.
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A truly living human being cannot remain neutral.
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You can’t change a regime on the basis of compassion. There’s got to be something harder.
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All worthwhile writing… comes from an individual vision, privately pursued.
NADINE GORDIMER