Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Writing stems from suffering rather than causing it.
In plain terms
Misery leads to writing, not the other way around.
What can you take from it?
Use writing to process pain rather than fearing it.

Where it applies

  • therapeutic writing
  • grief
  • creative work

Putting it to work

  • journal pain
  • create from struggle
  • find voice

Questions to consider

  • What pain drives your writing?
  • Does writing help or hurt?

Another view

Writing can sometimes exacerbate distress if used as rumination.

More from Michel de Montaigne

  1. Wonder is the foundation of all philosophy, research is the means of all learning, and ignorance is the end.

    Permalink to quote #144
  2. Who does not in some sort live to others, does not live much to himself.

    Permalink to quote #142
  3. When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.

    Permalink to quote #141

Related quotes

  1. I cut a hole in my heart and wrote with the blood.

    James Anthony FroudeJames Anthony Froude quote #2
  2. Sola la miseria e senza invidia nelle cose presenti.

    Giovanni BoccaccioGiovanni Boccaccio quote #4
  3. Quel que soit le souci que ta jeunesse endure, Laisse-la s'elargir, cette sainte blessure Que les noirs seraphins t'ont faite au fond du coeur ; Rien ne nous r…

    Alfred de MussetAlfred de Musset quote #5