Andre Dubus III Quotes

Not writing would be like going the rest of your life without having dreams.

Write about it by day and dream about it by night.

Writing is flying in dreams. When you remember. When you can. When it works. It's that easy.

Writing music is like tasting the sky. It keeps me dreaming in color.

When I feel I'm going to write something, then I just am quiet and I try to listen. Then something comes through. And I do what I can in order not to tamper with it.

Part of my function as a writer is to dream awake. And that usually happens. If I sit down to write in the morning, in the beginning of that writing session and the ending of that session, I'm aware that I'm writing. I'm aware of my surroundings. It's like shallow sleep on both ends, when you go to bed and when you wake up. But in the middle, the world is gone and I'm able to see better.

As a writer you ask yourself to dream while awake.

When I'm writing I don't dream much; it's like the dreaming gets used in the writing.

I'm still in love with what I do, with the idea of making things up, so hours when I write always feel like very blessed hours to me.

You have to have heart's passion to write a novel.

When you're writing fiction or poetry... it really comes down to this: indifference to everything except what you're doing... A young writer could do worse than follow the advice given in those lines.

It all has to do with art - writing, painting, things I've done for a long time but just never had enough time to pursue. I have poetry - things that are designed for songs, but they're always poems first.

You can write any time people will leave you alone and not interrupt you. Or, rather, you can if you will be ruthless enough about it. But the best writing is certainly when you are in love.

You have your brains, but it's energy and desire that make you write a book.

Ideas aren't magical; the only tricky part is holding on to one long enough to get it written down.

The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention.

I'm addicted to creating and writing.

I'm most happy when I am writing at night, because I need space and time to write.

The great advantage of being a writer is that you can spy on people. You're there, listening to every word, but part of you is observing. Everything is useful to a writer, you see - every scrap, even the longest and most boring of luncheon parties.

To write, you need to find what you love.

If you love something - and there are things that I love - you do want more and more and more of it, but that's not the way to produce good work. So as an author, I need to write what I need to write.

The reason there's no modern-day Shakespeare is because he didn't have anything to do except sit in a room with a candle and think.

Love is easy, and I love writing. You can't resist love. You get an idea, someone says something, and you're in love.

I wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember.

I'm constantly surprised by human nature and humanity. And I think that's why I love what I do: because I love to story-tell and bring new characters to life.