Old Friend from Far Away Quotes

“The things that make you a functional citizen in society - manners, discretion, cordiality - don't necessarily make you a good writer. Writing needs raw truth, wants your suffering and darkness on the table, revels in a cutting mind that takes no prisoners...”
― Natalie Goldberg, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir

“Too often we take notes on writing, we think about writing but never do it. I want you to walk into the heart of the storm, written words dripping off hair, eyelids, hanging from hands.”
― Natalie Goldberg, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir

“It is our hope that writing releases us. Instead maybe it deepens the echo. We call out to our past and the call comes back. We are alone--and not alone.”
― Natalie Goldberg, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir

“The muscles of writing are not so visible, but they are just as powerful: determination, attention, curiosity, a passionate heart.”
― Natalie Goldberg, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir

“Think of the word: memoir. It comes from the French mémoire. It is the study of memory, structured on the meandering way we remember.”
― Natalie Goldberg, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir

“But what if you are already sixty, seventy years old, eighty, ninety? Let the thunder roll. You’ve got something to say. You are alive and you don’t know for how long. (None of us really knows for how long.) No matter your age there is a sense of urgency, to make life immediate and relevant.”
― Natalie Goldberg, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir