Jessamyn West

"Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking."

"There are two barriers that often prevent communication between the young and their elders. The first is middle-aged forgetfulness of the fact that they themselves are no longer young. The second is youthful ignorance of the fact that the middle aged are still alive."

"Faithfulness to the past can be a kind of death above ground. Writing of the past is a resurrection the past then lives in your words and you are free."

"It is very east to forgive others their mistakes it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own."

"The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future."

"The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future."