For a Jewish Puritan of the middle class, the novel is serious, the novel is work, the novel is conscientious application why, the novel is practically the retail business all over again.

Quote by Howard Nemerov

Topics: Howard Nemerov Quotes

I've thought of the last line of some poems for years and tried them out,...

I've thought of the last line of some poems for years and tried them out,...

Robert Frost had always said you mustn't think of the last line first, or it's...

Robert Frost had always said you mustn't think of the last line first, or it's...

The historian is terribly responsible to what he can discern are the facts of the...

The historian is terribly responsible to what he can discern are the facts of the...

I think there was a revolution in poetry, associated chiefly with Eliot and Pound; but...

I think there was a revolution in poetry, associated chiefly with Eliot and Pound; but...

Nothing in the universe can travel at the speed of light, they say, forgetful of...

Nothing in the universe can travel at the speed of light, they say, forgetful of...

Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.

Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

Language is remarkable, except under the extreme constraints of mathematics and logic, it never can...

Language is remarkable, except under the extreme constraints of mathematics and logic, it never can...

When modern writers gave up telling stories, they gave up the greatest thing we had.

When modern writers gave up telling stories, they gave up the greatest thing we had.

I like all my children, even the squat and ugly ones.

I like all my children, even the squat and ugly ones.

When you write it doesn't occur to you that somebody could think different from what...

When you write it doesn't occur to you that somebody could think different from what...

History is one of those marvelous and necessary illusions we have to deal with. It's...

History is one of those marvelous and necessary illusions we have to deal with. It's...

When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. Eliot and after that...

When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. Eliot and after that...

I never abandoned either forms or freedom. I imagine that most of what could be...

I never abandoned either forms or freedom. I imagine that most of what could be...

I sometimes talk about the making of a poem within the poem.

I sometimes talk about the making of a poem within the poem.

A lot happens by accident in poetry.

A lot happens by accident in poetry.

I have a plot, but not much happens.

I have a plot, but not much happens.

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence...

Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence...

It is not history which uses men as a means of achieving - as if...

It is not history which uses men as a means of achieving - as if...