"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."

[The New Statesman, February 25, 1933]

"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." - "Meglio scrivere per se stessi e non avere un pubblico piuttosto che scrivere per gli altri e non essere se stessi".

Meglio scrivere per se stessi e non avere un pubblico, che scrivere per il pubblico e non avere se stessi.

Better to find a new audience than to write for the audience.

Better to work for yourself alone. You do as you like and follow your own ideas, you admire yourself and please yourself: isn’t that the main thing? And then the public is so stupid. Besides, who reads? And what do they read? And what do they admire?

There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. ... It's peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I live to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure. ... I don't necessarily intend to publish posthumously, but I do like to write for myself. ... I pay for this kind of attitude. I'm known as a strange, aloof kind of man. But all I'm doing is trying to protect myself and my work.

You are writing for yourself.

The less a writer discusses his work—and himself—the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the utmost care.

It is better to be alone than in bad company.

I write for myself and strangers.

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.

It is better to be alone than in bad company

There is a marvelous peace in not publishing ... I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure.

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.