People who want to write either do it or they don't. At last I began to say that my most important talent - or habit - was persistence. Without it, I would have given up writing long before I finished my first novel. It's amazing what we can do if we simply refuse to give up.
About this quote
- Attributed to
- Octavia E. Butler
- Culture / tradition
- African American
- Attribution status
- As published
Photo: Pavel.shyshkouski · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source · Portrait: Nikolas Coukouma (CC BY-SA 2.5)
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More from Octavia E. Butler & related wisdom
I know you've heard it a thousand times before. But it's true — hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don't love something, then don't do it.
All I insist on, and nothing else, is that you should show the whole world that you are not afraid. Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.
I've always been more interested in the future than in the past.
I have never been forced to accept compromises but I have willingly accepted constraints.
