# Quote — John Steinbeck, Journal of a Novel

> ... the writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.

- Author: [John Steinbeck](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck.md)
- Book: [Journal of a Novel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/journal-of-a-novel.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Journal_of_a_Novel_(1969)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/journal-of-a-novel/the-writer-must

## More from this book

> I like a chapter to have design of tone, as well as of form. A chapter should be a perfect cell in the whole book and should be almost able to stand alone. If this is done then the breaks we call chapters are not arbitrary but rather articulations which allow the free movement of the story.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/journal-of-a-novel/i-like-a-chapter.md)

> I have noticed so many of the reviews of my work show a fear and hatred of ideas and speculations. It seems to be true that people can only take parables fully clothed with flesh. Any attempt to correlate in terms of thought is frightening. And if that is so, East of Eden is going to take a bad beating because it is full of such things.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/journal-of-a-novel/i-have-noticed.md)

> In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable. And sometimes if he is very fortunate and if the time is right, a very little of what he is trying to do trickles through — not ever much. And if he is a writer wise enough to know it can't be done, then he is not a writer at all. A good writer always works at the impossible.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/journal-of-a-novel/in-utter-loneliness.md)