The writer is one who, embarking upon a task, does not know what to do... Writing is a process of dealing with not-knowing, a forcing of what and how. Donald Barthelme More Quotes by Donald Barthelme More Quotes From Donald Barthelme The aim of literature ... is the creation of a strange object covered with fur which breaks your heart. Donald Barthelme fur literature heart I believe that because I had obtained a wife who was made up of wife-signs (beauty, charm, softness, perfume, cookery) I had found love. Donald Barthelme charm wife believe Endings are elusive, middles are nowhere to be found, but worst of all is to begin, to begin, to begin. Donald Barthelme worst found writing People always like to hear that they're under stress, makes them feel better. You can imagine what they'd feel if they were told they weren't under stress. Donald Barthelme stress feel-better people Some people', Miss R. said,'run to conceits or wisdom but I hold to the hard, brown, nutlike word. I might point out that there is enough aesthetic excitement here to satisfy anyone but a damned fool. Donald Barthelme missing running people Goals incapable of attainment have driven many a man to despair, but despair is easier to get to than that -- one need merely look out of the window, for example. Donald Barthelme despair goal men Art is not difficult because it wishes to be difficult, but because it wishes to be art. Donald Barthelme difficult wish art Can the life of the time be caught in an advertisement? Is that how it is, really, in the meadows of the world? Donald Barthelme meadows advertising world Capitalism arose and took off its pajamas. Another day, another dollar. Each man is valued at what he will bring in the marketplace. Meaning has been drained from work and assigned instead to remuneration. Donald Barthelme dollars work men What an artist does, is fail. Any reading of the literature, (I mean the literature of artistic creation), however summary, will persuade you instantly that the paradigmatic artistic experience is that of failure. The actualization fails to meet, equal, the intuition. There is something "out there" which cannot be brought "here". This is standard. I don't mean bad artists, I mean good artists. There is no such thing as a "successful artist" (except, of course, in worldly terms). Donald Barthelme reading mean art Yes, success is everything. Failure is more common. Most achieve a sort of middling thing, but fortunately one's situation is always blurred, you never know absolutely quite where you are. Donald Barthelme achieve common success I don't believe that we are what we do although many thinkers argue otherwise. I believe that what we do is, very often, a poor approximation of what we are -- an imperfect manifestation of a much better totality. Even the best of us sometimes bite off, as it were, less than we can chew. Donald Barthelme action arguing believe Maybe writing can't be taught, but editing can be taught—prayer, fasting and self-mutilation. Donald Barthelme prayer editing writing The privileged classes can afford psychoanalysis and whiskey. Whereas all we get is sermons and sour wine. This is manifestly unfair. I protest, silently. Donald Barthelme whiskey wine class The writer is one who, emnbarking upon a task, does not know what to do. Donald Barthelme crafts tasks doe The best way to live is by not knowing what will happen to you at the end of the day. Donald Barthelme the-end-of-the-day knowing way We are what we have been told about ourselves. We are the sum of the messages we have received. The true messages. The false messages. Donald Barthelme has-beens messages The death of God left the angels in a strange position. Donald Barthelme position strange angel --Why are we fighting them? --They're mad. We're sane. --How do we know? --That we're sane? --Yes. --Am I sane? --To all appearances. --And you, do you consider yourself sane? --I do. --Well, there you have it. --But don't they also consider themselves sane? --I think they know. Deep down. That they're not sane. --How must that make them feel? --Terrible, I should think. They must fight ever more fiercely, in order to deny what they know to be true. That they are not sane. Donald Barthelme fighting order thinking Now, here is the point about the self: it is insatiable. It is always, always hankering. It is what you might call rapacious to a fault. The great flaming mouth to the thing is never in this world going to be stuff full. Donald Barthelme self mouths world
