'Driven to communicate'

 

“Awriter writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the needto communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind theneed to share is the need to be understood.” – Leo Rosten

 

Born in Poland on April 11, 1908Rosten became an American novelist, scriptwriter and humorist who also had adeep interest in the relationship of politics and the media and the intricaciesof their connections. 

 

Rosten emigrated to and grew up inNew York City, started writing at age 9 and worked his way through all levelsof school, including earning a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.  An economist, he did a series of governmentinformation jobs during WWII but gravitated to writing doing screenplays, thenfeature writer and essays for Look Magazine for nearly 25 years. 

 

Fascinated by the power of ofwell-placed words, he once noted, “Words must surely be counted among the mostpowerful drugs man ever invented.”

 

Rosten died in 1997 but his quoteslive on, including one of his most famous – a version of which is oftenmisattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. "The purpose of life is not to be happy.  It is to be useful, to be honorable.  It is to be compassionate.  It is to matter; to have it make somedifference that you lived."

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