"In true courage there is always an element of choice, of an ethical choice, and of anguish, and also of action and deed. There is always a flame of spirit in it, a vision of some necessity higher than oneself." ~ Brenda Ueland
Writer Brenda Ueland (1891-1985) lived by two rules: to be truthful, and never do anything she did not want to do. Her motto was "memento vivere:" remember to live.
"The true self is always in motion like music, a river of life, changing, moving, failing, suffering, learning, shining," she said, a passionate advocate for celebrating creativity in life.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Ueland had a lifelong passion for exercise and walked nine miles a day. "The best way to know the truth or beauty is to try to express it," she believed and wrote as she lived, with zest and love.
Esteemed poet Carl Sandburg called her bestselling classic on the writing process If You Want to Write "the best book about writing."
Ueland's words called out for self-confidence and boldness as she urged potential writers to trust their inner voice and be true to themselves:
"It is only by expressing all that is inside that purer and purer streams come," she said. "You do not know what is in you-- an inexhaustible fountain of ideas."
More Brenda UELAND Quotations
