Quotes About Craftsmanship

A poet is a professional maker of verbal objects.

I say that glorious prose is a fine and laudable thing, but without an enthralling story, it's just so much verbal tapioca. Simply put, the best books have both, and the best writers disparage neither.

There are so many ideas in my mind of old craftsmanship and food we have been enjoying for thousands of years. Some are on the verge of oblivion. I hope to preserve them through my small efforts.

I have been a baker for more than 30 years now, and in terms of equipment, all I really need is flour. It still amazes me what a versatile commodity it is, as you can do so many different things with it, and I never tire of trying new blends and recipes.

My main agenda as an actor is just to spend time with my characters - I am really glad that the roles being offered to me is very versatile.

My passion is bringing storylines around and constructing a full body of work rather than just a 16-bar verse.

My only verse I remember really working on was 'Mixtape,' and I took 45 minutes on that because I wanted it to be tight.

Loads of verses don't make it into the finished song.

Hm. How about jewelry? Do they make jewelry out of lava?" None of them had ever heard of that

studio and the junkyards

She thought a writer should work harder writing a book than she did reading it.

A lot of really big trees had died to make that desk. His mother had probably gnawed them down, used her nails to saw the boards, and finished the decorative cutwork with her tongue.

Being out in a boat on the river Lea, especially on Saturday afternoons, soon makes you smart at handling a craft, and spry at escaping being run down by roughs or swamped by barges; ... But it does not give you style. It was not till I came to the Thames that I got style. My style of rowing is much admired now. People say it is so quaint.

The stuff that comes easy takes the most rewriting. And the stuff that comes hard reads the easiest (Writing for the Soul, p. 194).

Good wood often warps if no craftsman uses it.

Programmers have not been professionals because they haven't really cared about quality.

T]hey are trying to find the right word, to choose, finally, the one that is most exact, most incisive. It's a process of sifting, which is exhausting and, at times, exasperating. Writers can't avoid it. The heart of the craft lies there.

When I finish a sentence, after much labor, it's finished. A certain point comes at which you can't do any more work on it because you know it will kill the sentence.

The artist himself is often surprised at the finished work of art. He cannot tell 'how it happened', nor could he repeat the feat at someone's bidding.

So, I don't work in terms of real time. I don't work in a timely fashion.

There is a subtle and unmistakable touch of love and pride, beyond mere skill, almost an inspiration which gives to all work that finish which is almost art - which is art.

I didn't want it to have any technical virtuosity; I wanted it to just be really clear how it was made. For my work in general, it's always really clear how it is made.

Though I revise constantly as I write, I will usually revise much of the work again after I've reached the ending.

Something you have to make...It's all work, work.