Richard Hugo Quotes

• You owe reality nothing and the truth about your feelings everything.

  Richard Hugo

  Reality, Feelings

  48 Copy quote

• Lucky accidents seldom happen to writers who don't work. You will find that you may rewrite and rewrite a poem and it never seems quite right. Then a much better poem may come rather fast and you wonder why you bothered with all that work on the earlier poem. Actually, the hard work you do on one poem is put in on all poems. The hard work on the first poem is responsible for the sudden ease of the second. If you just sit around waiting for the easy ones, nothing will come. Get to work.

  Richard Hugo

  Hard Work, Waiting, Lucky

  12 Copy quote

• Maximum sentence length: seventeen words. Minimum:one No semicolons. Semicolons indicate relationships that only idiots need defined by punctuation. Besides, they are ugly. Make sure each sentence is at least four words longer or shorter than the one before it.

  Richard Hugo

  Needs, Four, Ugly

  14 Copy quote

• A creative writing class may be one of the last places you can go where your life still matters.

  Richard Hugo

  Teaching, Writing, Class

  10 Copy quote

• Say nothing and just make music and you'll find plenty to say.

  Richard Hugo

  Plenty

  7 Copy quote

• To write a poem you must have a streak of arrogance-- not in real life I hope. In real life try to be nice. It will save you a hell of a lot of trouble and give you more time to write.

  Richard Hugo

  Real, Nice, Writing

  16 Copy quote

• Don't write love poems when you're in love. Write them when you're not in love.

  Richard Hugo

  Writing, Love Poems

  7 Copy quote

• Don't write with a pen. Ink tends to give the impression the words shouldn't be changed.

  Richard Hugo

  Writing, Giving, Ink

  7 Copy quote

• Never write a poem about anything that ought to have a poem written about it.

  Richard Hugo

  Writing, Ought, Written

  Richard Hugo (1992). “The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing”, p.20, W. W. Norton & Company

  4 Copy quote

• Scholars look for final truths they will never find. Creative writers concern themselves with possibilities that are always there to the receptive.

  Richard Hugo

  Creative, Finals, Looks

  5 Copy quote

• I think it's better if you write poems that look like you.

  Richard Hugo

  Writing, Thinking, Looks

  4 Copy quote

• In the world of imagination, all things belong.

  Richard Hugo

  Imagination, World, All Things

  Richard Hugo (1992). “The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing”, p.19, W. W. Norton & Company

  4 Copy quote

• Assuming you can write clear English sentences, give up all worry about communication. If you want to communicate, use the telephone.

  Richard Hugo

  Giving Up, Communication, Writing

  8 Copy quote

• An act of imagination is an act of self-acceptance.

  Richard Hugo

  Acceptance, Self, Imagination

  Jack Myers, Richard Hugo (1982). “A Trout in the milk: a composite portrait of Richard Hugo”, Confluence Press

  8 Copy quote

• You are someone and you have a right to your life.

  Richard Hugo

  4 Copy quote

• A good creative-writing teacher can save a good writer a lot of time.

  Richard Hugo

  Teacher, Writing, Creative

  7 Copy quote

• Think small.... If you can't think small, try philosophy or social criticism.

  Richard Hugo

  Philosophy, Thinking, Criticism

  7 Copy quote

• ...an imagined town is at least as real as an actual town. If it isn't, you may be in the wrong business. Our words come from obsessions we must submit to, whatever the social cost. It can be hard. It can be worse forty years from now if you feel you could have done it and didn't. It is narcissistic, vain, egotistical, unrealistic, selfish, and hateful to assume emotional ownership of a town or a word. It is also essential.

  Richard Hugo

  Selfish, Real, Emotional

  6 Copy quote

• Never want to say anything so strongly that you give up the option of finding something better. If you have to say it, you will.

  Richard Hugo

  Giving Up, Say Anything, Want

  6 Copy quote

• I will garden on the double run,
  my rhythm obvious in the ringing rakes,
  and trust in fate to keep me poor and kind
  and work until my heart is short,
  then go out slowly with a feeble grin,
  my fingers flexing but my eyes gone gray
  from cramps and the lack of oxygen.

  Richard Hugo

  Death, Running, Heart

  Richard Hugo, Ripley S. Hugo (1992). “The Real West Marginal Way: A Poet's Autobiography”, p.169, W. W. Norton & Company

  21 Copy quote

• A poet is seldom hard up for advice. The worst part of it all is that sometimes the advice is coming from other poets, and they ought to know better.

  Richard Hugo

  Advice, Sometimes, Poet

  4 Copy quote

• If you want to communicate, use the telephone

  Richard Hugo

  Use, Want, Telephones

  5 Copy quote

• Rub a half potato on your wart
  and wrap it in a damp cloth. Close
  your eyes and whirl three times and throw.
  Then bury rag and spud exactly where they fall.

  Richard Hugo

  Fall, Eye, Rags

  Richard Hugo, Ripley S. Hugo (1992). “The Real West Marginal Way: A Poet's Autobiography”, p.169, W. W. Norton & Company

  4 Copy quote

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