The reason why so few good books are written is, that so few people that can write know anything. In general an author has always lived in a room, has read books, has cultivated science, is acquainted with the style and sentiments of the best authors, but he is out of the way of employing his own eyes and ears. He has nothing to hear and nothing to see. His life is a vacuum.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Good writing requires real-world experience beyond books and theory.
- In plain terms
- Authors need life experience, not just reading.
- What can you take from it?
- Experience enriches writing more than study alone.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does your writing reflect real life?
- What have you learned outside books?
Another view
Some great writing comes from isolated scholarship.
More from Walter Bagehot
The purse strings tie us to our kind.
Permalink to quote #19 A highly developed moral nature joined to an undeveloped intellectual nature, an undeveloped artistic nature, and a very limited religious nature, is of necess…
Permalink to quote #21 To a great experience one thing is essential - an experiencing nature.
Permalink to quote #18
Related quotes
''Write what you know' is a tautology. You have no choice -- you have to write what you know, and in order to write something new, you have to learn something …
Lois McMaster BujoldLois McMaster Bujold quote #2 Books, the children of the brain.
Jonathan SwiftJonathan Swift quote #4 If you gotta ask, you'll never know.
Louis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong quote #6