Clive James Quotes About Writing

Quotes about: Writing

• I work on the assumption, or let it be the fear, that the reader will stop reading if I stop being interesting.

  Clive James

  Reading, Writing, Interesting

• Reading and writing... are exciting. The most exciting things I can think of. And now, as I reflect... I have to say that I've been lucky in that I'm amused by what I do - sufficiently amused.

  Clive James

  Art, Reading, Writing

• Almost 70 years have gone by, and I've still got that feeling when I write... Writing, for me, is still it. It has always been the basis of everything I do. I'm a writer who performs, not a performer who writes. I love the act of writing. It's still a thrill for me.

  Clive James

  Art, Writing, Years

• Writing is a performance art for me. They're very closely aligned, writing and performing. But I'm a writer, not a performer.

  Clive James

  Art, Writing, Performing

  "'I'm dying, I just look remarkably cheerful' says Clive James". "7.30" with Philip Williams, www.abc.net.au. August 19, 2015.

• Little books are the things to write at my age, I've decided. Avoid the big ones, go for the little ones.

  Clive James

  Book, Writing, Age

  "Summer Series: Clive James, in the face of death". "PM" with Mark Colvin, www.abc.net.au. December 21, 2015.

• Writers quite often starve. And I'm mainly just writing critical prose and poetry, that's a formula for starvation.

  Clive James

  Writing, Prose And Poetry, Starvation

  "'I'm dying, I just look remarkably cheerful' says Clive James". "7.30" with Philip Williams, www.abc.net.au. August 19, 2015.

• It's a big thing to call yourself a poet. All I can say is that I have always written poems. I don't think I'm interested in any discussion about whether I'm a good poet, a bad poet or a great poet. But I am sure, I want to write great poems. I think every poet should want that.

  Clive James

  Writing, Thinking, Want

  "Clive James on turning his ‘last time on earth’ into a writing wellspring". Interview with Art Beat, www.pbs.org. December 3, 2013.

• I try to be specific. One thought at a time. Clear. Articulate. And above all, memorable, if you can be. You'd like to write phrases that people can't forget as soon as they read them.

  Clive James

  Memorable, Writing, People

  "Clive James on turning his ‘last time on earth’ into a writing wellspring". Interview with Ellen Rolfes, www.pbs.org. December 3, 2013.

• This quality becomes important at a time when almost everyone is a poet. And as I said, we live in an age where almost everybody is a poet, but scarcely anyone can write a poem.

  Clive James

  Writing, Important, Age

  "Clive James on turning his ‘last time on earth’ into a writing wellspring". Interview with Art Beat, www.pbs.org. December 3, 2013.

• People should be stopped from writing poetry. There's far too much of it. And if they're any good, they'll go ahead anyways.

  Clive James

  Writing, People, Too Much

  "Clive James on turning his ‘last time on earth’ into a writing wellspring". Interview with Art Beat, www.pbs.org. December 3, 2013.

• What is Camille Paglia doing, writing that an actress as gifted as Anne Heche has the mental depth of a pancake? How many pancake brains could do what Heche did with David Mamet's dialogue in Wag the Dog? No doubt Heche has been stuck with a few bad gigs, but Paglia, of all people, must be well aware that being an actress is not the same safe ride as being the tenured university professor of humanities and media studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

  Clive James

  Dog, Art, Writing

• Humphrey Searle writes music that sounds like the theme from 'Star Wars' played backwards through a washing machine.

  Clive James

  Stars, War, Writing

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