Impossible, I realize, to enter another’s solitude. If it is true that we can ever come to know … - Paul Auster

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In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.

Paul Auster

Impossible, I realize, to enter another’s solitude. If it is true that we can ever come to know another human being, even to a small degree, it is only to the extent that he is willing to make himself known. A man will say: I am cold. Or else he will say nothing, and we will see him shivering. Either way, we will know that he is cold. But what of the man who says nothing and does not shiver? Where all is intractable, here all is hermetic and evasive, one can do no more than observe. But whether one can make sense of what he observes is another matter entirely

Come, Degrees, Intractable, Make, Men, Solitude

Same Author Quotes

I've been trying to fit everything in, trying to get to the end before it's too late, but I see now how badly I've deceived myself. Words do not allow such things. The closer you come to the end, the more there is to say. The end is only imaginary, a destination you invent to keep yourself going, but a point comes when you realize you will never get there. You might have to stop, but that is only because you have run out of time. You stop, but that does not mean you have come to an end.

Mean, Running, Say, Stop, Trying

The funny thing is that I feel close to all my characters. Deep, deep inside them all. I can't describe how deeply I love them all.

Character, Describe, Feels, Funny Things, Love, Thing

We exist for ourselves, perhaps, and at times we even have a glimmer of who we are, but in the end we can never be sure, and as our lives go on, we become more and more opaque to ourselves, more and more aware of our own incoherence. No one can cross the boundary into another – for the simple reason that no one can gain access to himself.

Become, Exist, Goes On, Opaque, Perhaps, Simple

The story is not in the words; it's in the struggle.

Stories, Story, Struggle, Words

When I start, I have a feeling for the characters, and maybe the shape of the story. Sometimes I might even have the last sentence in mind. But, no book I've ever written has ever ended the way I thought it would. Characters disappear, others come forward. Once you start writing, everything changes.

Book, Character, Disappear, Forward, Way, Writing