Natalie Goldberg Quotes

I am free to write the worst junk in the world.

The problem is we think we exist.

You'll lose your reader if you are vague, not clear, and not present. We love details, personal connections, stories.

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

A responsibility of literature is to make people awake, present, alive. If the writer wanders, then the reader, too, will wander.

I don't think everyone wants to create the great American novel, but we all have a dream of telling our stories-of realizing what we think, feel, and see before we die. Writing is a path to meet ourselves and become intimate.

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

This is your life. You are responsible for it. You will not live forever. Don't wait.

Use loneliness. Its ache creates urgency to reconnect with the world. Take that aching and use it to propel you deeper into your need for expression - to speak, to say who you are.

In writing with detail, you are turning to face the world. It is a deeply political act, because you are not staying in the heat of your own emotions. You are offering up some good solid bread for the hungry.

I read Eve Ensler and thought it was fabulous. Not only that, but it was really the only thing I could relate to about cancer.

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

This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it. Some days you don't want to run and you resist every step of the three miles, but you do it anyway. You practice whether you want to or not. You don't wait around for inspiration and a deep desire to run ... That's how writing is too ... One of the main aims in writing practice is to learn to trust your own mind and body; to grow patient and nonaggressive.

Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go. And don't worry too much about security. You will eventually have a deep security when you begin to do what you want.

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

Finally, if you want to write, you have to just shut up, pick up a pen, and do it. I'm sorry there are no true excuses. This is our life. Step forward. Maybe it's only for ten minutes. That's okay. To write feels better than all the excuses.

We walk through so many myths of each other and ourselves; we are so thankful when someone sees us for who we are and accepts us.

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.

The only failure in writing is when you stop doing it. Then you fail yourself.

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

Play around. Dive into absurdity and write. Take chances. You will succeed if you are fearless of failure.

Read books. They are good for us.

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

Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go.

We should notice that we are already supported at every moment. There is the earth below our feet and there is the air, filling our lungs and emptying them. We should begin from this when we need support.

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.

Finally, one just has to shut up, sit down, and write.