Breyten Breytenbach Quotes

It's essential not to have an ideology, not to be a member of a political party. While the writer can have certain political views, he has to be careful not to have his hands tied.

We're not a political band. We don't want to tell people what to do or what to think. We just want to tell them to think.

I just make the pictures and where they fall is where they fall. If somebody likes them, that's always nice. And if they don't like them, then too bad.

I believe that, in an ideal world, writers would feel free to write what matters to them without having to consider success, failure, the market, etc.

Maybe if I'd studied writing instead of anthropology, I'd be more sensible. You know - pick a genre, follow the rules, stay in the box - but let's face it. Sensible people don't major in anthropology.

I've never sat down and tried to write something for some occasion. You just write the tune and stay totally wide open to everything. It'll find the person or persons who are supposed to do it.

I'm an artist. Artists don't need permission to work. Regardless of whether I'm acting or not, I write. I write when I'm tired in fact, because I believe your most pure thoughts surface.

I try to avoid political ties.

Because I've lived a risky and unconventional life, I don't often struggle for subjects to write about.

I write for children because I am interested in fantasy and the possibilities for experience of all kinds before the time of compromise. I believe that children are far more perceptive and wise than American books give them credit for being.

In my estimation, the only thing that is more to be guarded against than bad taste is good taste.

I try and write the way things happen. I don't try and fulfill people's wishes.

It's really easy to project this whole ideology of what being an artiste is, and I'm just not down with intellectualizing it. I just think, if you feel like doing something, then do it.

I've worked with a lot of first time directors; in fact, I enjoy it because there is a certain beginner's mind that they bring into a project that isn't loaded with the way things have been done before. There's a certain freedom to it.

I don't view myself as a political leftie. I view myself as a storyteller who is fair to both sides.

A purely objective viewpoint does not exist in the cosmos or in politics.

I don't shy from controversy. I'm telling stories, and I'll tell whatever story seems like it wants to be told.

The artist discards all theories, both his own and those of others. He forgets everything when he is in front of his canvas.

To write a story, I think you really have to open yourself up to the world.

I don't like to box myself in when I'm composing.

I'd be happy to provide advice if anybody asked me no matter who the President is.

What I'm trying to do is to write a story. If you take something from it, that's wonderful; if you don't, that's wonderful as well.

It's always a good idea to let the audience make up their own minds.

When I'm writing, I am lost in my book. Except family and close friends, I don't care about what critics, publishers or readers might think.

I have never written out of a desire to be controversial.