Natalie Goldberg Quotes

When I wrote and got out of the way, writing did writing.” (p.90)

It is simply that person's time. Ours will come in this lifetime or the next. No matter. Continue to practice.

Our job as writers is to listen, to come home to the four corners of the earth.

The correctness and quality of what you write do not matter; the act of writing does.

Great lovers realize that they are what they are in love with.

When you bring the darkness to the table, it doesn't rule you or hurt other people, but when we keep it secret, it's dangerous.

Use original detail in your writing. Life is so rich, if you can write down the real details of the way things were and are, you hardly need anything else.

The difference between neurosis and wisdom is struggle.

When you write what you know, you stay in control. One of the first things I encourage my writing students to do is to lose control - say what they want to say, break structure.

Literature gives us the great gift of the present moment.

Poetry is a dumb Buddha who thinks a donkey is as important as a diamond.

I'm never ashamed to read a book twice or as many times as I want. We never expect to drink a glass of water just once in our lives. A book can be that essential, too.

In the West, a teacher imparts knowledge to a student. In the East, a teacher transmits nothing more or less than his or her Being.

Talk when you talk, walk when you walk, and die when you die.

I love and care about literature, and great writers are our teachers. You're studying their mind when you read their work.

Nobody cares much whether you write or not. You just have to do it

Failure is what we're all running from, we're always running toward success with failure at our back.

Writing can teach us the dignity of speaking the truth.

When you are present, the world is truly alive.

The positive thing about writing is that you connect with yourself in the deepest way. You get a chance to know who you are, to know what you think. You begin to have a relationship with your mind.

Indefinite plans get dubious results.

At the moment our rational mind stops, hits against a wall ... something else happens. And a bigger mind, like a pearl, rolls in a silver bowl.

Have compassion for yourself when you write. There is no failure - just a big field to wander in.

As writers we need to crack open language.

We shouldn't forget that the universe moves with us, is at our back with everything we do.

Writing is the crack through which you can crawl into a bigger world, into your wild mind.

There's no such thing as a writer's block. If you're having trouble writing, well, pick up the pen and write. No matter what, keep that hand moving. Writing is really a physical activity.

To stay close and intimate with experience is to stay close to the mind; the nitty gritty mind of the way things really are.

Poems are taught as though the poet has put a secret key in his words and it is the reader's job to find it. Poems are not mystery novels.

Clarity and perseverance are difficult in American society because the basis of capitalism is greed and dissatisfaction.

In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one definitive act. Just write.

Over and over, we have to go back to the beginning. We should not be ashamed of this. It is good. It's like drinking water.

I honor English majors. It's a dumb thing to major in. It leads nowhere. It's good to be dumb, it allows us to love something for no reason. That's the best kind of love.

Even an ice cream parlor - a definite advantage - does not alleviate the sorrow I feel for a town lacking a bookstore.

Writing is not a McDonald's Hamburger.

Be awake to the details around you, but don't be self-conscious.

In the end, you have to just sit down, shut up, and write.

I had cancer for fourteen months and wrote a memoir about the experience.

To encounter a fine book and have time to read it is a wonderful thing.

In a way, the cancer became an ally because it stopped me from running around so much. I was able to settle down and write things I hadn't had a chance to before.

Don't let yourself be thrown away....Continue on no matter what....Continue to make a positive effort for the good.

If you love the work, it will love you back.

Poetry has never been a favorite American pastime.

I feel very rich when I have time to write and very poor when I get a regular paycheck and no time at my real work.

This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it.

Read books. They are good for us.

When you are not writing, you are a writer too. It doesn't leave you.

We never graduate from first grade. Over and over, we have to go back to the beginning.

When we write we begin to taste the texture of our own mind

One poem or story doesn't matter one way or the other. It's the process of writing and life that matters.