Prose Quotes - Page 15

• A great actor is independent of the poet, because the supreme essence of feeling does not reside in prose or in verse, but in the accent with which it is delivered.

  Lee Strasberg

  Independent, Essence, Feelings

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• I've written a lot of prose. I just haven't published it.

  Patti Smith

  Written, Havens

  "Patti Smith interview: 'I love Portland ... it's a real book town'". Interview with Jeff Baker, www.oregonlive.com. January 26, 2010.

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• In true prose everything must be underlined.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Literature

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• Cliches and adjectives permeated my prose.

  Dick Schaap

  Adjectives, Cliche

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• French is not a language that lends itself naturally to the opaque and ponderous idiom of nature-philosophy, and Teilhard has according resorted to the use of that tipsy, euphoristic prose-poetry which is one of the more tiresome manifestations of the French spirit.

  Peter Medawar

  Philosophy, Prose Poetry, Use

  Peter Brian Medawar (1996). “The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science”, p.2, Oxford University Press, USA

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• Who dreamt and made incarnate gaps in Time & Space through images juxtaposed, and trapped the archangel of the soul between 2 visual images and joined the elemental verbs and set the noun and dash of consciousness together jumping with sensation of Pater Omnipotens Aeterna Deus to recreate the syntax and measure of poor human prose and stand before you speechless and intelligent and shaking with shame

  Allen Ginsberg

  Intelligent, Jumping, Space

  Allen Ginsberg, “Howl”

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• When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again.

  Anne Lamott

  Absurdity Of Life, Dancing, Laughing

  Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.237, Anchor

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• neither poems nor prose just a length of rope just the wet earth -- that's the way home. neither vodka nor bread just bursts of rage just more new graves -- that's youth and that's love. neither sleep nor waking neither joy nor laughter just tears in the night -- so the rope, paper, knife.

  Tadeusz Borowski

  Love, Laughter, Home

  Tadeusz Borowski, Larry Rafferty (1990). “Selected poems”

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• I wish to God,” said Gideon with mild exasperation, “that you’d talk—just once—in prose like other people.

  Dorothy Dunnett

  People, Wish, Gideon

  Dorothy Dunnett (1999). “The Game Of Kings: The Lymond Chronicles Book One”, p.375, Penguin UK

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• Susan Campbell has brought Isabella's fascinating forgotten story back to life with the deep research of a born historian and the vibrant readable prose style of a veteran journalist.

  Debby Applegate

  Style, Stories, Research

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• How well I know what I mean to do When the long dark Autumn evenings come, And where, my soul, is thy pleasant hue? With the music of all thy voices, dumb In life’s November too! I shall be found by the fire, suppose, O’er a great wise book as beseemeth age, While the shutters flap as the cross-wind blows, And I turn the page, and I turn the page, Not verse now, only prose!

  Robert Browning

  Wise, Book, Mean

  'By the Fireside' (1855) st. 2

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• I don't dream songs. I'm more apt to write dreams down and then to be able to interpret them into a song. I also tend to get up and write prose in the morning from which will come songs.

  Judy Collins

  Dream, Song, Morning

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• Prose is prose because of what it includes; poetry is poetry because of what it leaves out.

  Marvin Bell

  Poetry Is

  Marvin Bell (1994). “A Marvin Bell reader: selected poetry and prose”, University Press of New England

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• I want my prose to be as clear as a pane of glass.

  Tracy Kidder

  Glasses, Want, Clear

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• Prose is not to be read aloud but to oneself alone at night, and it is not quick as poetry but rather a gathering web of insinuations ... Prose should be a long intimacy between strangers with no direct appeal to what both may have known. It should slowly appeal to feelings unexpressed, it should in the end draw tears out of the stone.

  Henry Green

  Night, Long, Feelings

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• However, if a poem can be reduced to a prose sentence, there can't be much to it.

  James Schuyler

  Poetry, Poetic, Sentences

  James Schuyler (2004). “Just the Thing: Selected Letters of James Schuyler, 1951-1991”

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• Every now and then I read a poem that does touch something in me, but I never turn to poetry for solace or pleasure in the way that I throw myself into prose.

  J. K. Rowling

  Doe, Way, Now And Then

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• I have a much greater ambition to be the best racket player than the best prose writer.

  William Hazlitt

  Ambition, Player, Being The Best

  William Hazlitt, Duncan Wu (1998). “The Selected Writings of William Hazlitt”, Pickering & Chatto Ltd

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• An argument is made that there are just too many question marks about the near future; wouldn't it be better to wait until things clear up a bit? You know the prose: "Maintain buying reserves until current uncertainties are resolved," etc. Before reaching for that crutch, face up to two unpleasant facts: The future is never clear and you pay a very high price for a cheery consensus. Uncertainty actually is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.

  Warren Buffett

  Two, Long, Waiting

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• Even in a crowded field, it is a rare pleasure to come across a prose stylist like Kellie Wells, whose intellect and language bid one another beautifully to a dance. She dares to be at play in the most unsettling questions of her day. Surely when the present generation of writers shakes down to its unique and irreplaceable voices, Kellie Wells will be one of them.

  Jaimy Gordon

  Unique, Play, Voice

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• The Hours is in fact a lovely triumph. Cunningham honors both Mrs. Dalloway and its creator with unerring sensitivity, thanks to his modesty of intention and his sovereignly affecting prose.... With his elliptical evocation of Mrs. Dalloway, he has managed to pay great but quiet tribute -- reminding us of the gorgeous, ferocious beauty of what endures.

  Gail Caldwell

  Lovely, Honor, Triumph

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• Herein find fiction full of whimsy, wit, hurt, and terror. Wicked, as in wickedly funny, is in the mix, too, along with a prose style both seductive and sly. Any one of Doug Watson's first collection of stories, The Era of Not Quite, can mend a broken world.

  Christine Schutt

  Hurt, Broken, Seductive

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• Alethea Black can drop you into a dream with a single sentence, then convince you it's real. Her characters' best hopes and worst fears usually come to pass, often in fabulous ways, but their adventures feel inevitable and true-not only because Ms. Black richly imagines her people, but because she loves them. I Knew You'd Be Lovely is a lovely debut, with masterful prose and inspired invention on every page.

  Ralph Lombreglia

  Dream, Real, Adventure

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• I started out as a writer. Poetry and prose and also kind of satirical David Sedaris-esque stuff.

  Pauley Perrette

  Stuff, Kind, Satirical

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• Eva Stachniak has given readers a thrilling glimpse into the scandals and secrets at the heart of the Russian Imperial court. With deft prose and exquisite detail, Stachniak has resurrected one of the most compelling ages in history. Turn off the phones and lock the doors—you will not put it down.

  Deanna Raybourn

  Heart, Doors, Phones

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