Christian Nestell Bovee Quotes

I think it's a question which particularly arises over women writers: whether it's better to have a happy life or a good supply of tragic plots.

I'm never going to be Tolstoy.

I actually thought I wanted to be Thomas Wolfe, but I didn't have the talent. So I thought I could edit Thomas Wolfe.

It puzzles me when writers say they can't read fiction when they're writing fiction because they don't want to be influenced. I'm totally open to useful influence. I'm praying for it.

Gore Vidal was a man of immense literary talent, some of which he used well, some of which he wasted.

... the transaction between a writer and the spirit of the age is one of infinite delicacy, and upon a nice arrangement between the two the whole fortune of his works depend.

Sometimes, the loneliness probably got to be too much and anyone seemed better than no one.

Shakespeare wrote better poetry for not knowing too much; Milton, I think, knew too much finally for the good of his poetry.

A writer turns his life into material, and if you’re in his life, he uses yours, too.

We are lonesome animals. We spend all life trying to be less lonesome.

There's nothing like losing yourself in someone else's troubles to make you forget your own.

It is a great misfortune to be alone, my friends; and it must be believed that solitude can quickly destroy reason.

My life has been greatly influenced by many books which I have never read.

Life isn't an Island, you have to have other people in your life.

We have so many distractions. We're losing the family unit. We're losing the one-on-one. We're becoming extremely narcissistic. And we have to be careful about that. There's a lot to deal with out there.

An odd contradiction, if the layman were correct in his unconscious assumption that an artist begins with reality and ends with art: the converse is true - to the degree that this dichotomy has any truth - the artist begins with art, and through it arrives at reality.

Individuality is different than isolation. Isolation is trying to do everything on your own, living life by yourself. Isolation happens when you choose not to be involved in any communities, making sure you keep a safe distance from people in your life. I’m not recommending isolation. Science, psychology, and religion all suggest long term isolation is dangerous and unhealthy.

The ideas get under your skin. I am honored and deeply excited by the thought that the next generation of writers, or whomever, are influenced by these books.

The best life for a writer is the life which helps him write the best books he can.

One degrades oneself sometimes in the effort not to be lonely.

This art of participating in happiness is one of the foundations if you want to be happy.

Some brains are barren grounds, that will not bring seed or fruit forth, unless they are well manured with the old wit which is raked from other writers and speakers.

But a man needs company.

My reason for writing stories is to give myself the satisfaction of visualising more clearly and detailedly and stably the vague, elusive, fragmentary impressions of wonder, beauty, and adventurous expectancy which are conveyed to me by certain sights (scenic, architectural, atmospheric, etc.), ideas, occurrences, and images encountered in art and literature.

It was scary how a girl couldn't live without friends.