Prose Quotes - Page 5

• Good prose is written only face to face with poetry.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Faces, Written, Face To Face

  Friedrich Nietzsche (2010). “The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs”, p.145, Vintage

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• Prose is in fact the museum where the dead images of verse are preserved. In 'Notes', prose is 'a museum where all the old weapons of poetry kept.

  T. E. Hulme

  Inspiration, Museums, Weapons

  "Selected Writings".

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• Stylized acting and direction is to realistic acting and direction as poetry is to prose.

  Elia Kazan

  Acting, Realistic, Poetry Is

  Elia Kazan (2009). “Kazan on Directing”, p.46, Anchor

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• It is no longer possible for lyric poetry to express the immensity of our experience. Life has grown too cumbersome, too complicated. We have acquired values which are best expressed in prose.

  Boris Pasternak

  Lyric Poetry, Complicated, Immensity

  Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1976). “My sister, life and other poems”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P

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• The object, Truth, or the satisfaction of the intellect, and the object, Passion, or the excitement of the heart, are, although attainable, to a certain extent, in poetry, far more readily attainable in prose.

  Edgar Allan Poe

  Passion, Heart, Satisfaction

  Edgar Allan Poe (2016). “Edgar Allan Poe's Complete Poetical Works”, p.147, Lulu.com

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• Writers acquire their technique by spotting, savoring, and reverse-engineering examples of good prose.

  Steven Pinker

  Engineering, Technique, Example

  Steven Pinker (2014). “The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century”, p.17, Penguin

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• I find old copies of National Gallery catalogues, which are written in the dryest possible prose, infinitely soothing.

  Howard Hodgkin

  Gallery, Soothing, Copies

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• Mother Dolores Hart's prose is a reflection of the inner beauty she has always possessed. A fascinating read... and read again!

  Robert Evans

  Mother, Reflection, Inner Beauty

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• The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.

  David Hare

  Poetry, Century

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• Hugely enjoyable and insightfulGosling has produced the perfect combination of rigorous research and lightness of prose to create a book that will transform every reader into a super snooper.

  Richard Wiseman

  Book, Perfect, Research

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• Habit is the best thing for you if you’re trying to write prose.

  Alan Cheuse

  Writing, Trying, Habit

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• Karl Popper once advised a student that if he wanted to reap intellectual fame, he should write endless pages of obscure, high-flown prose that would leave the reader puzzled and cowed. He should then here and there smuggle in a few sensible, straightforward sentences all could understand. The reader would feel that since he has grasped this part, he must have also grasped the rest. He would then congratulate himself and praise the author.

  Anthony de Jasay

  Writing, Intellectual, Pages

  "The Seen and the Unseen. Part I. On the Economics of Protecting Employment" by Anthony de Jasay, www.econlib.org. December 6, 2004.

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• Even at the worst of times, when nothing goes right, when the prose is clumsy and the ideas feel stale, at least we're doing something that we genuinely love. There's no other reason to work this hard, except that love.

  Melissa Scott

  Ideas, Reason, Worst

  Melissa Scott (1997). “Conceiving the Heavens: Creating the Science Fiction Novel”, Heinemann Drama

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• The gap between verse and poetry is enormous. Between good poetry and good prose the gap is much narrower

  Michael Longley

  Gaps, Enormous, Good Poetry

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• If it doesn't work horizontally as prose... it probably won't work any better vertically pretending to be poetry.

  Robert Breault

  Poetry, Pretending, Ifs

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• My prose style at this time was a stomach-twisting blend of the Bible, Carl Sandburg, H.L. Mencken, Jeffrey Farnol, Christopher Morley, Samuel Pepys, and Franklin Pierce Adams imitating Samuel Pepys. I was quite apt to throw in a "bless the mark" at any spot, and to begin a sentence with "Lord" comma.

  E. B. White

  Writing, Style, Franklin

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• I'm a failed poet. Reading poetry helps me to see the world differently, and I try to infuse my prose with figurative language, which goes against the trend in fiction.

  Jesmyn Ward

  Reading, Trying, Fiction

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• She's always looking for poetry and passion and sensitivity, the whole Romantic kitchen. I live on a rather simpler diet.' 'Prose and pudding?''I don't expect attractive men necessarily to have attractive souls.

  John Fowles

  Passion, Men, Soul

  John Fowles (1965). “The Magus”

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• He can develop sense and style, in the manner of distinguished modern prose, in which event he may be sure that the result will not fall into any objective form.

  John Crowe Ransom

  Fall, Objectivity, Style

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• Merrie Destefano storms the world of urban fantasy with AFTERLIFE, breathing new life into the vast genre of the undead. Gritty, poignant, in the tradition of Bladerunner, with the nostalgia of New Orleans. With crisp and beautiful prose, AFTERLIFE blurs the line between the living and the dead to ask life's ultimate questions-even if they take nine lives to solve.

  Tosca Lee

  Beautiful, Afterlife, New Orleans

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• In his scintillating new novel, Matt Bondurant explores a crucial period in the history of Virginia and of his family. His gorgeous, precise prose brings to life an amazing cast of characters, including Sherwood Anderson, and the often deadly battles of Prohibition. The Wettest County in the World is a remarkably compelling, highly intelligent, and deeply moving novel.

  Margot Livesey

  Moving, Character, Intelligent

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• Kaethe Schwehn's poignant memoir explores longing, both spiritual and physical, community and faith, in prose that is calm, lovely, and filled with clear-eyed honesty and grace. Tailings is simply an exquisite book.

  Dinty W. Moore

  Spiritual, Honesty, Book

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• My Family and Other Saints echoes Gerald Durrell's classic memoir, My Family and Other Animals, not only in its title, but in its wonderful humor and lyrical prose. Like Durrell, Kirin Narayan takes the reader to a fascinating world far from our own, and brings to life its myriad sights, sounds and smells, while revealing the profound cultural beliefs of its people. India is just the most complex character among a cast of characters-family members, gurus, hippies, and neighbors-all of whom I now count as old friends.

  Judith Barrington

  Hippie, Character, Animal

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• Self-publishing in comics is core to the whole artform. There is no scarlet letter in comics as there still is, to some degree, in prose. As no publisher for a long time would publish serious work in comics, the only way a lot of it came out was because of self-publishing. Many of the greatest works of the medium are self-published.

  Kieron Gillen

  Self, Long, Serious

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• With impeccable prose, dry wit, and uncommon wisdom, Ted Thompson brings to life one family's painful disappointments and powerful resilience. The Land of Steady Habits combines Austen's shrewd mastery of domestic economics with Updike's compassion for the melancholy commuter to make something elegant, fresh, and brilliant.

  Maggie Shipstead

  Powerful, Disappointment, Compassion

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