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Philip Levine

"No one can write like Vallejo and not sound like a fraud. He's just too much himself and not you."

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"No one can write like Vallejo and not sound like a fraud. He's just too much himself and not you."

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Amber Hurdle

"As a writer, you must truly possess a love for words.""Yes, that's right," I agreed."I've noticed that some authors favor particular words, making frequent use of them. Do you have a favorite?"I nodded assuredly and shared my answer. "BECAUSE."My interviewer looked surprised, as though he'd expected an impressive adjective or some rare verb. "That's your favorite word? Why?"I tried not to smirk. "Because."

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Amber Hurdle

"There are days when writing is within my power and a story unfolds along a course I've already chosen. And then there are days when the words breathe on their own and take me by the hand, leading me along unfathomed paths. Either way, the end result is this author's fairytale."

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Amber Hurdle

"The pleasures of being a novelist are many. But the greatest by far is the manner in which I live through my characters; experiencing every detail of their story as it unfolds gradually and personally within my own creative psyche. I'm like a cat with untold lives, because each new book is my rebirth."

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Amber Hurdle

"Some writers write to forget. Some forget to write."

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Amber Hurdle

"By small and simple sentences, great books come to pass."

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Amber Hurdle

"The habit of writing for my eye is good practice. It loosens the ligaments."

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Amber Hurdle

"A writer out of loneliness is trying to communicate like a distant star sending signals. He isn't telling, or teaching, or ordering. Rather, he seeks to establish a relationship with meaning, of feeling, of observing. We are lonesome animals. We spend all our live trying to be less lonesome. And one of our ancient methods is to tell a story, begging the listener to say, and to feel, "Yes, that's the way it is, or at least that's the way I feel it. You're not as alone as you thought." To finish is sadness to a writer, a little death. He puts the last word down and it is done. But it isn't really done. The story goes on and leaves the writer behind, for no story is ever done."

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Amber Hurdle

"Every writer has to figure out what works best - and often has to select and discard different tools before they find the one that fits."

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Amber Hurdle

"If you can't think of what to write, tough luck; write anyway. If you can think of lots more when you've finished the three pages, don't write it; it'll be that much easier to get going next day."

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Amber Hurdle

"Somebody is observing my writings, I know that.That's one reason why I keep reading and writing."

Explore more quotes by Philip Levine

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Philip Levine
"My father died when I was five, but I grew up in a strong family."
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Philip Levine
"I'm saying look, here they come, pay attention. Let your eyes transform what appears ordinary, commonplace, into what it is, a moment in time, an observed fragment of eternity."
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Philip Levine
"I'm seventy-one now, so it's hard to imagine a dramatic change."
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Philip Levine
"I listen to jazz about three hours a day. I love Louis Armstrong."
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Philip Levine
"But I'm too old to be written about as a young poet."
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Philip Levine
"The irony is, going to work every day became the subject of probably my best poetry."
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Philip Levine
"I started listening to music when I wrote when I had three sons at home."
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Philip Levine
"I have a sense that many Americans, especially those like me with European or foreign parents, feel they have to invent their families just as they have to invent themselves."
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Philip Levine
"My mother carried on and supported us; her ambition had been to write poetry and songs."
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Philip Levine
"I was very lucky to have a mother who encouraged me to become a poet."
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