WIST Quotations

Faulkner, William -- “The Art of Fiction,” Interview by Jean Stein, Paris Review #12 (Spring 1956)

Dave — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 15:20:58 +0000

Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error.

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American novelist
“The Art of Fiction,” Interview by Jean Stein, Paris Review #12 (Spring 1956)
(Source)

Connolly, Cyril -- Enemies of Promise, Part 1, ch. 3 “The Challenge of the Mandarins” (1938)

Dave — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 20:08:53 +0000

Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once, and they require separate techniques.

Cyril Connolly (1903–1974) English intellectual, literary critic and writer.
Enemies of Promise, Part 1, ch. 3 “The Challenge of the Mandarins” (1938)
(Source)

Casals, Pablo -- Joys and Sorrows, ch. 5 (1970) [with Albert E. Kahn]

Dave — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 22:47:29 +0000

I have always regarded technique as a means, not an end in itself. One must, of course, master techniques; at the same time, one must not become enslaved by it — one must understand that the purpose of technique is to transmit the inner meaning, the message, of the music. The most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all.

Pablo Casals (1876–1973) Spanish cellist, conductor, composer
Joys and Sorrows, ch. 5 (1970) [with Albert E. Kahn]
(Source)

Flaubert, Gustave -- Letter to Louise Colet (12 Aug 1846)

Dave — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 17:25:12 +0000

One must not always think that feeling is everything. Art is nothing without form.

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer, novelist
Letter to Louise Colet (12 Aug 1846)
(Source)

Barth, John -- “An Interview with John Barth,” by Alan Prince and Ian Carruthers, Prism (Spring 1968)

Dave — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 19:10:01 +0000

My feeling about technique in art is that it has about the same value as technique in love-making. That is to say, on the one hand, heartfelt ineptitude has its appeal and, on the other hand, so does heartless skill; but what you want is passionate virtuosity.

John Barth (1930–2024) American writer
“An Interview with John Barth,” by Alan Prince and Ian Carruthers, Prism (Spring 1968)
(Source)

The quotation from the interview (originally credited only to Prince) was also included in the inside dust cover of Barth's short story collection, Lost in the Funhouse (1968), and is sometimes cited to that book.

The longer quote was paraphrased to the form in the graphic above on the dust cover of Charles B. Harris, Passionate Virtuosity: The Fiction of John Barth (1983):

In art as in lovemaking, heartfelt ineptitude has its appeal and so does heartless skill, but what you want is passionate virtuosity.

Harris later gives the full quotation inside his book.

Also used by Barth in "Dunyazadiad," Esquire (1972-07-01), reprinted in Chimera (1972):

Heartfelt ineptitude has its appeal, Dunyazade; so does heartless skill. But what you want is passionate virtuosity.

Asimov, Isaac -- Interview (1988) by Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas, PBS TV (1988-10-22)

Dave — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 19:38:57 +0000

Science doesn’t purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism. It’s a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It’s a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. And this works, not just for the ordinary aspects of science, but for all of life. I should think people would want to know that what they know is truly what the universe is like, or at least as close as they can get to it.

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Interview (1988) by Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas, PBS TV (1988-10-22)
(Source)

(Source (Video))

Part 2 of the interview (the first half aired 1988-10-17). Collected in Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas (1989).