Thursday

Jun. 19, 1997

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

by William Butler Yeats

A Drinking Song

by William Butler Yeats

THURSDAY 6/19

Today's Reading:"He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" and "A Drinking Song" by William Butler Yeats.

The Shakespeare on the Green festival begins today at the University of Nebraska in Omaha.

It's the birthday of novelist Salman Rushdie (MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN; THE SATANIC VERSES), born in Bombay, India, in 1947.

Writer Tobias Wolff (THIS BOY'S LIFE: A MEMOIR; GARDEN OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MARTYRS; THE NIGHT IN QUESTION) was born on this day in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1945.

It's the birthday of Myanmar human rights activist and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize; she was born in Rangoon, Burma, in 1945.

It's the birthday Pauline Kael, longtime film critic for THE NEW YORKER, born in Petaluma, California, in 1919.

New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who played every game from June 1, 1925 until May 2, 1939, was born on this day in New York City, in 1903.

It's the birthday of novelist and short-story writer Laura Hobson, best known for her novel GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT, born on this day in New York City, in 1900.

Moe Howard, of the Three Stooges, was born on this day in Brooklyn, in 1897.

The first baseball game between organized teams playing by essentially modern rules took place on this day in 1846 at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey.

It's the birthday of mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, born in Clermont-Ferrand, France, in 1623.

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