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Quotable Women, like BeMoreCreative.com, encourages thinking, working, and living more creatively. Creativity is "the power to connect the seemingly unconnected" (W. Plommer). To support this work, we earn a small affiliate commission. Please browse creatively!


Ellen Glasgow: A tragic irony...

Ellen Glasgow: A tragic irony...

A tragic irony of life is that we so often achieve success or financial independence after the chief reason for which...

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Marguerite Duras: Nowhere is one...

Marguerite Duras: Nowhere is one...

Nowhere is one more alone than in Paris. . . and yet surrounded by crowds. Nowhere is one more likely to incur greater...

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Djuna Barnes: New York is...

Djuna Barnes: New York is...

New York is the meeting place of the peoples, the only city where you can hardly find a typical...

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Djuna Barnes: Life is painful,...

Djuna Barnes: Life is painful,...

Life is painful, nasty and short . . . in my case it has only been painful and nasty.

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Elizabeth Gaskell: People may flatter...

Elizabeth Gaskell: People may flatter...

People may flatter themselves just as much by thinking that their faults are always present to other people's minds,...

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Carson McCullers: Our hunger for...

Carson McCullers: Our hunger for...

Our hunger for foreign places and new ways has been with us [Americans] almost like a national disease. Our literature...

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Anne Tyler: I've always thought...

Anne Tyler: I've always thought...

I've always thought a hotel ought to offer optional small animals. . . . I mean a cat to sleep on your bed at night,...

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Anne Tyler: II would advise...

Anne Tyler: II would advise...

II would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them -- without a...

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Anne Sophie Swetchine: Travel is the...

Anne Sophie Swetchine: Travel is the...

Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and the serious part of frivolous ones.

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Anne Sophie Swetchine: There are words...

Anne Sophie Swetchine: There are words...

There are words which are worth as much as the best actions, for they contain the germ of them...

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Alexandra Ripley: Books have become...

Alexandra Ripley: Books have become...

Books have become products like cereal or perfume or deodorant.

Source: In...

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Faith Baldwin: Character builds slowly,...

Faith Baldwin: Character builds slowly,...

Character builds slowly, but it can be torn down with incredible swiftness.

Source:...

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Taylor Caldwell: He that hath...

Taylor Caldwell: He that hath...

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without...

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Jean Ingelow: Cusha! Cusha! Cusha!'...

Jean Ingelow: Cusha! Cusha! Cusha!'...

Cusha! Cusha! Cusha!' calling
Ere the early dews were falling.


Source: The High...

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Madeleine L'Engle: A book comes...

Madeleine L'Engle: A book comes...

A book comes and says, Write me. My job is to try to serve it to the best of my ability, which is never good enough,...

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Marguerite Duras: For that's what...

Marguerite Duras: For that's what...

For that's what a woman, a mother wants -- to teach her children to take an interest in life. She knows it's safer for...

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Estelle Ramey: I don't mind...

Estelle Ramey: I don't mind...

I don't mind . . . the fun and games of being treated like a fragile flower. But as a physiologist working with the...

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Elizabeth Bowen: All your youth...

Elizabeth Bowen: All your youth...

All your youth you want to have your greatness taken for granted; when you find it taken for granted, you are...

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Annie Dillard: I woke at...

Annie Dillard: I woke at...

I woke at intervals until . . . the intervals of waking tipped the scales, and I was more often awake than...

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Gertrude Stein: Native always means...

Gertrude Stein: Native always means...

Native always means people who belong somewhere else, because they had once belonged somewhere. That shows that the...

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