Again Calls the Owl Quotes

“Gertrude Stein to Margaret Craven:
Every writer must have common sense. He must be sensitive and serious. But he must not grow solemn. He must not listen to himself. If he does, he might as well be under a tombstone. When he takes himself solemnly, he has no more to say. Yet he must despise nothing, not even solemn people. They are part of life and it's his job to write about life.
Be direct. Indirectness ruins good writing. There is inner confusion in the world today and because of it people are turning back to old standards like children to their mothers. This makes indirect writing.
A writer must preserve a balance between sensitivity and vitality. Commercial writers are vital but not sensitive. Trying to keep this balance is always hard. It is the whole job of living.
When one writes a thing---when you discover and then put it down, which is the essence of discovering it---one is done with it. What people get out of it is none of the writer's business.
Every writer is self-conscious. It's one reason he is a writer and he is lonely. If you know three writers in a lifetime, that is a great many.”
― Margaret Craven, Again Calls the Owl

“I like young people. I think it is time my country does what the Indians of Kingcome are doing. We must return to our own roots, our own safety and integrity, and I think this is the beginning to occur. Our lives depend upon it.”
― Margaret Craven, Again Calls the Owl