Quotes About Introspection

Writing is such a singular and lonely occupation. And it's interesting; all of the work that you create is so singular.

You really try to work the character out and spend time in the headspace of the character. That's what I did.

No distractions. Center yourself. This is your time.

Poems are always interested in what Ivan Illich called 'shadow work,' not least because that is no small part of their own way of working.

Watch yourself all your life in a mirror and you'll see Death at work like bees in a glass hive.

As a writer, if you're prepared to work from your own wound, you're allowing people into the most vulnerable parts of yourself.

I always thought the story [Anthem] would work in three dimensions - and studying that cut material was very useful.

In the original novel [ Anthem], the story unfolds in the mind of a single character. Maybe that's why Ayn Rand called the work a poem.

I have gradually confused photography and life and as a result of this I believe I am able to work out of myself at an almost precognitive level.

Much of my work has been done in first person.

Running gives you a great opportunity to work stuff out in your head.

When I'm in touch with the idea that there is a higher power and that there is, you know, other factors at work, it - it kind of quells my narcissism.

The fiction I tend to like is nothing like my own work. I like the kind of writing that shows me things I don't know about, and what I don't know about is the everyday, normal world.

I wouldn't presume to know something, but I have lots to learn and that's what I attempt to do through my work.

My work would have the impact of my unreality - my doubts.

I did not work for a year after 'Margarita With a Straw'.

Every time I stray away from the Lord's word, I find emptiness and darkness.

There's a strong melancholic streak in me.

I definitely have a real self-destructive streak.

I certainly had an arrogant streak. And I certainly was defensive in certain cases. Maybe I'm still arrogant, but I try not to be.

I like comics like Janeane Garofalo who is very stream of conscious in an honest way.

Probably when I was about 16 or 17 I started writing. I wouldn't call it poetry, even though I've referred to it as poetry a couple times. But I don't think that's right. It was more scribblings and stream of consciousness.

I work a lot with sounds based on stream of consciousness. I like the way it sounds, then I turn it into something that makes more sense.

The streets spoke to me in a way that religion didn't.