The steady pressure to consume, absorb, participate, receive, by eye, ear, mouth, and mail involves a cruelty to intestines, blood pressure, and psyche unparalleled in history.
Herbert GoldI always ask young writers, 'Are you certain you want to be a writer? If you're absolutely sure, then do it.' If you really want to write, writing has to take precedence over everything else, except for taking care of your loved ones. It has to be more important than any possession, more important than fame. We hear about just a few writers who get famous, but most of them don't. It's got to mean more than that.
Herbert GoldIf mankind is naturally good, he is sure going against his nature more and more of the time. It sounds like a bad joke: the paranoids are after us.
Herbert GoldCatastrophe and desire are linked in our lives as the moon is linked to that reflected light from the sun which enables the eye to see it.
Herbert GoldLiterature boils with the madcap careers of writers brought to the edge by the demands of living on their nerves, wringing out their memories and their nightmares to extract meaning, truth, beauty.
Herbert GoldWith short stories, the story-teller must have a story to tell, not merely some sweet prose to take out for a walk
Herbert GoldTo construct a proper privacy, making it a privilege rather than a burden, we first need to construct a community-love, family, politics, art.
Herbert GoldThe fact that all of us die anyway (the rumor turns out to be true) is a mere detail in the celestial glow of imagination. The artist's eyes destroy death.
Herbert GoldThe magic will which makes us see the other side of our natures-dream and disaster, catastrophe and fulfillment-is the great permanent challenge of humanity.
Herbert Gold