Famous Quotes by Nadine Gordimer

Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.

The truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is.

People give one another things that can't be gift-wrapped.

Responsibility is what awaits outside the Eden of Creativity.

Time is change; we measure its passing by how much things alter.

Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever.

Power is something of which I am convinced there is no innocence this side of the womb.

A child understands fear, and the hurt and hate it brings.

Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience.

I have failed at many things, but I have never been afraid.

A writer’s life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity.

To be a writer is to be a voyeur. To be a writer is to make an act of faith.

It is the responsibility of the writer to ensure that the truth is told.

The writer’s imagination is a personal gift, not a gift to society.

People can be a resource, but only if they are allowed to be people.

The artist's job is to be a witness to the world and the human condition.

We can only be what we are, and what we are can only be understood in context.

What you have to do is work on your own art, not on a formula for success.

The reality of living in a world that demands conformity is often a harsh one.

It’s the writer’s task to make the familiar strange, to illuminate the dark corners of our lives.