William Stafford Quotes

Normally I don't watch myself, because I'm not very objective.

In a way you can feel that the poet actually is looking over your shoulder, and you say to yourself, now, how would this go for him? Would this do or not?

Everyone has to be their own critic.

I'm a very vicious critic of myself.

Everybody is their own critic.

You're always going to be more judgmental about your own performance than anyone else.

I would be far more critical than any reviewer could be of my own work. So I simply don't read them.

A mediocre mind thinks it writes divinely; a good mind thinks it writes reasonably.

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.

I was always an outsider, always standing outside, observing and trying to figure things out. Which is exactly what you need to do as a writer, I suppose.

I've always known whether I'm great. Or not.

I think I'm a harder critic on myself than anybody is. I think I judge myself harder than any of the coaches do.

I am my biggest critic. Even in films where people said they liked me, I have disliked myself.

When all is said, a man's final judgment of his fellows must be based upon his knowledge of himself

To invent out of knowledge means to produce inventions that are true. Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him. It also should have a manual drill and a crank handle in case the machine breaks down. If you're going to write, you have to find out what's bad for you. Part of that you learn fast, and then you learn what's good for you.

Never judge your own writing. You're not fit to do so.

In the self-appraisal of efficacy, there are many sources of information that must be processed and weighed through self-referent thought

Never ask people about your work.

I guess the important thing for young writers is to read.

All players are their own worst critics. We are harder on ourselves than anyone else is.

I'd discovered you never know yourself until you're tested and that you don't even know you're being tested until afterwards, and that in fact there isn't anyone giving the test except yourself.

I never write with any kind of message, and I don't think that this book, 'Goodbye, Stranger' has a message in the capital M form of the word but I do hope it makes people ask themselves questions about what they think.

Sometimes I have that kind of critical mind to myself as well. This is because there are times where I have to do things that I don't wish to.

I don't like to be my own audience, I find that being my own audience, being in the audience, makes me self-conscious, basically. So I tune in sometimes, with the sound off, to check it out and I back up to it. In the future I will look at it when some time has passed.

If a man means his writing seriously, he must mean to write well. But how can he write well until he learns to see what he has written badly. His progress toward good writing and his recognition of bad writing are bound to unfold at something like the same rate.