Grace Bridges > Grace's Quotes

“Writers are often given the gift of being spectacularly unhappy, so that they can record the full depth of feeling.”
― Grace Bridges

“I am not a fate worse than death, dammit!”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.”
― Gary Provost

“End with an image and don't explain.”
― Stanley Kunitz, The Collected Poems

“Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What are men to rocks and mountains?”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“Is not general incivility the very essence of love?”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice