"Every article and review and book that I have ever published has constituted an appeal to the person or persons to whom I should have talked before I dared to write it. I never launch any little essay without the hope-and the fear, because the encounter may also be embarrassing-that I shall draw a letter that begins, 'Dear Mr. Hitchens, it seems that you are unaware that It is in this sense that authorship is collaborative with 'the reader.' And there's no help for it: you only find out what you ought to have known by pretending to know at least some of it already.It doesn't matter how obscure or arcane or esoteric your place of publication may be: some sweet law ensures that the person who should be scrutinizing your work eventually does do so."

Writing, Authorship, Collaboration, Fear

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"Every article and review and book that I have ever published has constituted an appeal to the person or persons to whom I should have talked before I dared to write it. I never launch any little essay without the hope-and the fear, because the encounter may also be embarrassing-that I shall draw a letter that begins, 'Dear Mr. Hitchens, it seems that you are unaware that It is in this sense that authorship is collaborative with 'the reader.' And there's no help for it: you only find out what you ought to have known by pretending to know at least some of it already.It doesn't matter how obscure or arcane or esoteric your place of publication may be: some sweet law ensures that the person who should be scrutinizing your work eventually does do so."

Exlpore more Writing quotes

"Copywriters, journalists, mainstream authors, ghostwriters, bloggers and advertising creatives have as much right to think of themselves as good writers as academics, poets, or literary novelists."

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"A true piece of writing sets you free."

A. D. Posey, American Poet

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"A writer's duty is to draw a picture that expresses more inner beauty, deeper anxiety, and more complex tragedy than a real character ever can."

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"You are the writer of your life story, so don't forget to write the best one."

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"If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered."

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"Through writing, an author opens the window of his heart through which a reader can see the inner self of the author."

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"Writing means not just staring ugliness in the face, but finding a way to embrace it."

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"Write about the beauty of rainbows and the glint of reflected light that can enlighten readers' minds."

Debasish Mridha, American Author

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"Writing is a great way of talking with an endless audience for never-ending time."

Debasish Mridha, American Author

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"What is your advice to young writers? "Drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes."

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Explore more quotes by Christopher Hitchens

"The struggle for a free intelligence has always been a struggle between the ironic and the literal mind."

Intellect

"Everything about Christianity is contained in the pathetic image of 'the flock."

Religion

"I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness."

Hypocrisy

"Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will provide plenty of time for silence."

Skepticism

"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law."

Governance

"Beware what you wish for, unless you have the grace to hope that your luck can be shared."

Wisdom

"If you say you're a unifier, you expect and usually get applause. I'm a divider. Politics is division by definition, if there was no disagreement there would be no politics. The illusion of unity isn't worth having, and is anyways unattainable."

Politics

"Try your hardest to combat atrophy and routine. To question The Obvious and the given is an essential element of the maxim 'de omnius dubitandum' [All is to be doubted]."

Inquiry

"Control over the production and distribution of oil is the decisive factor in defining who rules whom in the Middle East."

Politics

"I had become too accustomed to the pseudo-Left new style, whereby if your opponent thought he had identified your lowest possible motive, he was quite certain that he had isolated the only real one. This vulgar method, which is now the norm and the standard in much non-Left journalism as well, is designed to have the effect of making any noisy moron into a master analyst."

Politics