Here are some of favourite quotes which I managed to write down during the Auckland Writers Festival. I was struggling to rank them in a list from best to awesome, but you can judge them according to your own taste and preference.
“Reality is a bit more than we think it is.” Ben Okri, opens a new window
“New Zealand is myth-infested land. Stories pop up everywhere." http://t.co/diLgqPyTpu Ben Okri at #awf15 ^DR pic.twitter.com/SksqfeGGFj
— ChChCityLibraries (@ChristchurchLib) May 20, 2015
“The only limit with your story is imagination.” David Walliams, opens a new window
“If people read their authors, it's their richness.” Ben Okri
“My stories are always unpredictable to myself” Haruki Murakami, opens a new window
Notes from last night #Murakami #awf15 pic.twitter.com/nFZKQ638sI
— Anjana Iyer (@anjana_iyer) May 17, 2015
“You feel like a magician when you write.” David Walliams
“I'm writing books for my people, not for my country.” Haruki Murakami
“Good thing is that people are writing books about what we're doing wrong.” Charlotte Grimshaw, opens a new window
“I like the audience to have their view of the songs.” Hollie Fullbrook, opens a new window
“It is important to try and inspire those ones who don't read, to read.” David Walliams
“Truth can hurt, but not knowing can hurt more.” Alan Cumming, opens a new window
“Curiosity is willingness to step in somebody else's shoes.” Atul Gawande, opens a new window
“We don't love our past enough to bring it into our present.” Aroha Harris, opens a new window
“History is one of the most powerful colonizing tools available. Especially if you are writing it from your point of view as a hero.” Aroha Harris
“More knowledge from parents to children.” Xinran, opens a new window
“We are in an age, when a move from home is a mythic experience.” Anna Smaill, opens a new window
“Everyone has an amazing story to tell.” David Walliams
This is what it's all about. Piles of books. Yum. #awf15 ^DR pic.twitter.com/GSsxPlBbQi
— ChChCityLibraries (@ChristchurchLib) May 16, 2015
“Remain yourself. Your experience is the most interesting. Be what you are.” Alan Cumming
“Hearts get broken over the breakfast table.” Anton Chekhov (only present in spirit and quoted by Hollie Fullbrook).
“You should always have a picture of a 100% boy, even when you have 78% husband.” Haruki Murakami
What I realized transcribing these quotes is that some of them are deeply embedded in the context of writer's work or their life experience. But what makes them so beautiful is their universality. Everyone can interpret them in their own way.
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