Saturday, November 29, 2025

Quote of the Week: The Work Ethic of Interwar British Writers

Most Englishmen dislike work and grumble about their jobs and writers now make it so clear they hate writing, that their public may become excusably sympathetic and urge them to try something else. I have seldom met a male novelist who enjoyed doing his work, and never heard of one who gave it up and took to anything more congenial. I believe it would have been better for trade if writers had kept up the bluff about inspiration. As it is, the tendency is to the opposite exaggeration of regarding us all as mercenary drudges. The truth I think is this - that though most of us would not write except for money, we would not write any differently for more money.

 - Evelyn Waugh, Ninety-Two Days, p.378 in Waugh Abroad

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