“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.” — William H. Gass
What if we were so passionate about our writing that the words we turned out were pure gold. Think of all the words that have inspired you. The words of great writers that live on for centuries after they have passed on.
I’ve often wondered what it takes to be true alchemists of words.
Talent? Passion? Hard work? Discipline?
I’m guessing it is all of these and that extra something that eludes definition.
I love these words about the power of words:
“Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the unthinking.” – John Maynard Keynes”
The struggle of literature is in fact a struggle to escape from the confines of language; it stretches out from the utmost limits of what can be said; what stirs literature is the call and attraction of what is not in the dictionary.” – Italo Calvino
“Words should be an intense pleasure, just as leather should be to a shoemaker. If there isn’t that pleasure for a writer, maybe he ought to be a philosopher.” – Evelyn Waugh
“I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all.” – Richard Wright
What are you doing with your words?
Inspiring post 🙂