There comes a time in a man's life when to get where he has to go - if there are no doors or windows he walks through a wall. Bernard Malamud More Quotes by Bernard Malamud More Quotes From Bernard Malamud The whole history of baseball has the quality of mythology. Bernard Malamud mythology quality baseball I sometimes confuse myself with the little I know. Bernard Malamud littles sometimes knowledge As long as a man stays alive he can't tell what chances will pop up next. But a dead man signs no checks. Bernard Malamud perseverance men long The past exudes legend: one can't make pure clay of time's mud. Bernard Malamud clay experience past Somewhere I put it this way: first drafts are for learning what one’s fiction wants him to say. Revision works with that knowledge to enlarge and enhance an idea, to reform it. Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing. Bernard Malamud reform writing ideas Children were strangers you loved because you could love. If they gave back love when they were grown you were ahead of the game. Bernard Malamud back-love games children No use fanning up hot coals when you have to walk across them. Bernard Malamud coal anger hot A man is an island in the only sense that matters, not an easy way to be. We live in mystery, a cosmos of separate lonely bodies, men, insects, stars. It is all loneliness and men know it best. Bernard Malamud stars lonely loneliness There is in the darkness a unity, if you will, that cannot be achieved in any other environment, a blending of self with what the self perceives, and exquisite mystical experience. Bernard Malamud mystical-experiences self dark (Clothes) cannot change a man's nature. He's either kind or he isn't, with or without clothes. Bernard Malamud clothes kind men We can't all be friends and relatives as the world is; most of us have to be strangers. Bernard Malamud human-relations stranger world To any writer: Teach yourself to work in uncertainty. Many writers are anxious when they begin, or try something new. Even Matisse painted some of his Fauvist pictures in anxiety. Maybe that helped him to simplify. Character, discipline, negative capability count. Write, complete, revise. If it doesn't work, begin something else. Bernard Malamud discipline writing character Writers who can't invent stories often substitute style for narrative. They remind me of the painter who couldn't paint people, so he painted chairs. Bernard Malamud style stories people Those who write about life, reflect about life. you see in others who you are. Bernard Malamud who-you-are writing A writer has to surprise himself to be worth reading. Bernard Malamud worth-reading surprise reading If you ever forget you are a Jew a goy will remind you. Bernard Malamud forget-you jew forget ... it's possible to let love fly by like a cloud in a windy sky if one is too timid, or perhaps unable to believe he is entitled to good fortune. Bernard Malamud sky clouds believe Of course it would cost something, but he was an expert in cutting corners; and when there were no more corners left he would make circles rounder. Bernard Malamud circles cutting experts The past exudes legend: one can't make pure clay of time's mud. There is no life that can be recaptured wholly; as it was.Which is to say that all biography is ultimately fiction. Bernard Malamud clay time past First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about. Revision is working with that knowledge to enlarge and enhance an idea, to re-form it.... The first draft of a book is the most uncertain-where you need guts, the ability to accept the imperfect until it is better. Bernard Malamud book ideas firsts