寫作的格言
東年選譯
Harvey Cox:
All human beings have an innate need to hear and tell stories and to have a story to live by ...
人類與生俱來就需要聽故事、說故事，而且需要一個故事來度過一生。
Pearl S. Buck:
In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.
充滿信心和希望的心情中，我繼續工作。桌上有480張新稿紙等我寫下一本書；我是作家，我拿起筆就開始寫……
Elizabeth Drew:
The test of literature is, I suppose, whether we ourselves live more intensely for the reading of it.
我以為寫作的考驗，在於我們自己是否生活熱切甚於閱讀它。
Denise Levertov:
One of the obligations of the writer is to say or sing all that he or she can, to deal with as much of the world as becomes possible to him or her in language.
作家無論男女，有一項義務，就是以盡可能豐富的文字去敘述或讚揚他們的世界。
Gloria Steinem:
Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.
寫作是件好事；當我寫作的時候，我可以不必想其他事。
Isaac Asimov:
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.
假使醫生和我說我還僅有六分鐘好活，我將不會鬱悶沉思，而會加快打字的速度。
Lord Byron:
But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew, upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.
但是文字是合乎需要的，所以一滴墨汁像露珠滴落在思想上，產生數千的…也許數百萬的想像和探索。
Mark Twain:
There are some books that refuse to be written. They stand their ground year after year and will not be persuaded. It isn’t because the book is not there and worth being written -- it is only because the right form of the story does not present itself. There is only one right form for a story and if you fail to find that form the story will not tell itself.
有些書怎樣也寫不出來；它們年復一年堅持這樣立場，決不退讓。
這不因為這種書不存且不值得寫──只因為恰當的敘述體裁還沒出現。
每一個故事只有一種恰當的敘述形式，如果你沒能碰上，這故事就不會自己說出來。
William Wordsworth:
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart...
在你的稿紙上揮灑感情的氣息….
Winston Churchill:
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
歷史將對我很親切，因為我想要去寫它。
Albert Camus:
The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.
作家的決心和意圖，是要守護文明世界，避免其自我毀滅。
David Ben Gurion:
Anyone who believes you can’t change history has never tried to write his memoirs.
任何不相信人可能改變歷史或境遇的作家，一定不會嘗試寫他自己的回憶。
Flannery O’Connor:
Everywhere I go, I’m asked if the universities stifle writers.
每次我去演講，人家總愛問：學院生活是否會悶死作家。
F. Scott Fitzgerald:
There was never a good biography of a good novelist. There couldn’t be. He is too many people if he’s any good.
一個傑出的小說家絕對不可能寫出好的自己的傳記，因為只要他是任何一種傑出，他就會是好多種人的複合體，而不是單一的個人。
Lillian Hellman:
If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don’t listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.
假使我必須給年輕作者忠告，我要說：不要聽信作家談寫作或他們自己。
Sophocles:
A short saying often contains much wisdom.
短的諺語、格言、警句，富有明智。
Tom Clancy:
The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
小說和真實的分別在於小說必須有意義。
Willa Cather:
Writing ought either to be the manufacture of stories for which there is a market demand -- a business as safe and commendable as making soap or breakfast foods -- or it should be an art, which is always a search for something for which there is no market demand, something new and untried, where the values are intrinsic and have nothing to do with standardized values.
寫作應當是以市場需要製造作品，像製造安全和值得讚美的肥皂或早餐食品那樣；如果不這樣寫，那，寫作應當是一種藝術：它不應市場需求，永遠追尋新的、沒做過的事，它的價值是內在的和標準化無關。
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