Wednesday

Sep. 18, 1996

Idle Thought

by Don Marquis

WEDNESDAY 9/18

Today's Reading:"idle thought" by Don Marquis from ARCHYOLOGY, published by University Press of New England.

It's the birthday today of film legend Greta Garbo, born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Stockholm, Sweden, 1905, and remembered for her famous words, "I want to be let alone."

Dancer and choreographer Agnes de Mille (FALL RIVER LEGEND; RODEO) was born on this day in New York City in 1905.

It's the birthday of director and drama critic Harold Clurman, born in New York City in 1901.

It was in Minnesota on this day in 1900 that the first direct primary election took place.

Today in 1851 the first edition of the NEW YORK DAILY TIMES was printed, later becoming THE NEW YORK TIMES.

Standish James O'Grady, known as the Father of the Irish Renaissance, was born in Castletown, Ireland, 1846.

Siegfried Marcus, builder of the first four gasoline-powered cars in the world, was born in Malchin, Germany, in 1831.

French physicist Jean-Bernard-Leon Foucault, who developed a technique for accurately measuring the absolute velocity of light, was born in Paris on this day in 1819.

English lexicographer Samuel Johnson was born on this day in Lichfield, England, in 1709.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

«

»

  • “Writers end up writing stories—or rather, stories' shadows—and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough” —Joy Williams
  • “I want to live other lives. I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.” —Anne Tyler
  • “Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig” —Stephen Greenblatt
  • “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • “Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.” —John Edgar Wideman
  • “In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” —Denise Levertov
  • “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Let's face it, writing is hell.” —William Styron
  • “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” —Thomas Mann
  • “Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.” —Paul Rudnick
  • “Writing is a failure. Writing is not only useless, it's spoiled paper.” —Padget Powell
  • “Writing is very hard work and knowing what you're doing the whole time.” —Shelby Foote
  • “I think all writing is a disease. You can't stop it.” —William Carlos Williams
  • “Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.” —Iris Murdoch
  • “The less conscious one is of being ‘a writer,’ the better the writing.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is…that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is my dharma.” —Raja Rao
  • “Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.” —Anthony Powell
  • “I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.” —Michael Cunningham
Current Faves - Learn more about poets featured frequently on the show