Mary MacLane Quotes

I've always kept a journal and brought storytelling into my teaching.

I want to write my life. I want to be able to write my life. You are a second away from saying it. You have no idea how much I love you.

If you really want to know yourself, start by writing a book.

I wanted to tell my story in a way I haven't done before, things I've been going through in my life.

The greatest thing is, at any moment, to be willing to give up who we are in order to become all that we can be.

As years passed away I have formed the habit of looking back upon that former self as upon another person, the remembrance of whose emotions has been a solace in adversity and added zest to the enjoyment of prosperity.

I write about my life.

You write an autobiography because you want to tell people how you felt about a certain matter at that time.

I never thought I would write an autobiography, probably because my first novel, Go Now, is really all drawn from my life, even though it's more about the psychology going on.

Writing is the only way I have to explain my own life to myself.

I'm writing my biography. It's my business. This is what happened in my life, and I'm writing about it.

In one deep sense, novels are concealed autobiography. I don't mean that you are telling facts about yourself, but you are trying to find out what you really think or who you are.

With the story of your life, you dont get to write the whole book, just your character.

I saw my earlier selves as different people, acquaintances I had outgrown. I wondered how I could ever have been some of them.

I never thought I could write this much and now that it's coming to an end, I feel sad that I have to stop, sort of the way you feel at the end of a really good book and you know you're going to miss the main character. But in this case, the main character is me! Myself. Joe (formerly JoDan) Bunch. —Joe Bunch

I have begun writing what I have said I'd never write, a memoir ("I am not my own subject," I used to say with icy superiority).

When we write about our lives we respond to them. As we respond to them we are rendered more fluid, more centered, more agile on our own behalf. We are tendered conscious.

Writing an autobiography, usually thought of as a looking back, can just as well be a looking across or through, with the passing of time giving an X-ray quality to the eye.

Must I tell the story of my life again?

I go on the Internet and look at old pictures of myself, because it is the best reminder of how far I have come and where I do not want to be.

When I was in elementary school, I used to write letters to myself. I'd write letters and go 'Dear Kristen-at-16-years-old, happy birthday. I hope you're doing something.'

The moment in between what you once were, and who you are now becoming, is where the dance of life really takes place.

I read less of everything now. With only fond memories of others' work, it will be interesting to give my own journal writing a try now.

In the last few years, losing my father, going through a divorce and not getting some jobs I really wanted, is making me a much more interesting person, I think. This all really does feel like a rebirth, a new chapter.