Quote

I honor English majors. It's a dumb thing to major in. It leads nowhere. It's good to be dumb, it allows us to love something for no reason. That's the best kind of love.

Natalie Goldberg

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Natalie Goldberg
Age: 76
Born: 1948
Born: January 4
Author
Novelist
Writer
Brooklyn
New York
Thing
Dumb
Kind
Leads
Something
Majors
Good
Major
Love
English
Honor
Best
Nowhere
Reason
Allows

More quotes by Natalie Goldberg

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In the past few years I've assigned books to be read before a student attends one of my weeklong seminars. I have been astonished by how few people -- people who supposedly want to write -- read books, and if they read them, how little they examine them.
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Really you don't need more information. If you've lived twenty years, you probably have enough material for the rest of your life
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When I wrote and got out of the way, writing did writing.” (p.90)
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So writing is not just writing. It is also having a relationship with other writers. And don't be jealous, especially secretly. That's the worst kind. If someone writes something great, it's just more clarity in the world for all of us.
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We walk through so many myths of each other and ourselves we are so thankful when someone sees us for who we are and accepts us.
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When you bring the darkness to the table, it doesn't rule you or hurt other people, but when we keep it secret, it's dangerous.
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In the end, you have to just sit down, shut up, and write.
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Every moment is enormous and it is all we have.
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Wherein we discover that many of the rules for good writing and good sex are the same: Keep your hand moving, lose control, and don't think.
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Nobody cares much whether you write or not. You just have to do it
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I am free to write the worst junk in the world.
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Be tough in the way a blade of grass is: rooted, willing to lean, and at peace with what is around it.
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We should notice that we are already supported at every moment. There is the earth below our feet and there is the air, filling our lungs and emptying them. We should begin from this when we need support.
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Shut up and write. Don't talk about writing, just physically do it.
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I told all kinds of stories about going to Japan, about playing ball with my father... I wanted to record my life in case it was going to end soon. So, I wrote that and it was very comforting to have that practice in the afternoons in my living room. I just wrote about my life.
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You'll lose your reader if you are vague, not clear, and not present. We love details, personal connections, stories.
Natalie Goldberg
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I think book publishing is fun, but I also know I've been very lucky.
Natalie Goldberg
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Take out another notebook, pick up another pen, and just write, just write, just write. In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one definitive act. Just write. Say yes, stay alive, be awake. Just write. Just write. Just write.
Natalie Goldberg
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When you are present, the world is truly alive.
Natalie Goldberg
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I think talent is like a water table under the earth—you tap it with your effort and it comes through you.
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