Mfa Programs Quotes & Sayings

The ghosts of Rilke and Wordsworth
along with the 300+ MFA programs, which now seem to employ all Living Poets
have misled the American public egregiously into thinking that poets are morally pure and/or useless. — Katy Lederer

'Helter-Skelter' was the motive for the murders. Manson borrowed that term from a Beatles song on the 'White Album.' In England, helter-skelter is a playground ride. To Manson, helter-skelter meant a war between whites and blacks that the Beatles were in favor of. — Vincent Bugliosi

Does any (MFA) program really improve anybody, as much as simply identifying them? And, after identifying them, not ruining them? — Chang-rae Lee

I never really had novel-writing instruction like people do in MFA programs. — Jess Row

I would be happier if people who went through MFA programs also were already, by then, deeply committed readers of poetry because we need readers of poetry as much as writers of poetry. — Edward Hirsch

If you're part of any kind of writerly community, some of those people will have gone through MFA programs, and their thinking leaks into yours. So whatever changes MFAs have made to the culture, it's to the culture as a whole. It can't be pinned down to individual books in a way that some people would like to do. — Chad Harbach

What an invaluable handbook! Lori A. May has done her research, knows her stuff, and, whats best, lets the programs speak for themselves through her extensive interviews. Theres a chorus of quotes from faculty, students, and graduates in The Low-Residency MFA Handbook. Anyone making the decision to apply for an MFA should consult this wise guide. Mays clarity and authority make it a gold standard. — Molly Peacock

Politicians know that if they fail to engage with the gay community, and fail to develop coherent positions on the issues that concern them, they risk punishment at the ballot box. If we can do that for science, we will have made an outstanding start. — Mark Henderson

Genre/forms are institutional questions mainly. Like matter to MFA programs in terms of which workshop you can teach. — Juliana Spahr

Used with due abstinence, hope acts as a healthful tonic; intemperately indulged, as an enervating opiate. The visions of future triumph, which at first animate exertion, if dwelt upon too intently, will usurp the place of the stern reality; and, noble objects will be contemplated, not for their own inherent worth, but on account of the day-dreams they engender. Thus hope, aided by imagination, makes one man a hero, another a somnambulist, and a third a lunatic; while it renders them all enthusiasts. — James Fitzjames Stephen

Breezy journalistic sentences about wealthy white people unaware that other human beings are real became the rubber stamp product of the elite MFA programs. — Sarah Schulman

If you don't fail, you're not even trying. — Denzel Washington

There are two MFA programs here at the University of Texas, and I read on the jury of both of them. And it's amazing to me how many really talented young writers seem to fear humor. — Elizabeth McCracken

The effects of MFA programs, and the rise of creative writing instruction more generally, are far more diffuse than people think. Even if you're a writer who has avoided institutions your whole life, you're still going to be reading a lot of writers who have MFAs, and are affiliated with universities. — Chad Harbach

Throw the computer away and don't look on the internet. That's the best thing to do. — Daniel Craig

I think the MFA programs have had a real effect on the state of American fiction, but I don't think it's a question of "this is written by someone with an MFA, and this isn't." I challenge anyone to identify a book in that way. It's totally impossible. — Chad Harbach

I think in terms of educating a group of readers, MFA programs are very good. I just think the model of MFA programs in which a young poet goes through the program, publishes a series of books, gets teaching jobs, that's a bit at risk. — Edward Hirsch

MFA programs are to the world of art what gentrification is to your neighborhood. — Sarah Schulman

2SAM 22.33. God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect. — Anonymous

Obviously in 2008 it was 538 (to win an Olympic gold) and most of my scores have been over that this year. — Tom Daley

If your church is the theatre, New York means a lot - it's a pilgrimage you want to make. — Cush Jumbo

* But even Cammaerts' luck ran out eventually, proving — Rita Kramer

The very good thing about MFA programs is their democratizing. They bring a lot of different people to the table. — Edward Hirsch

I think that the dark side of MFA programs is that they're generating more poets than the culture can absorb and there are more people writing poetry than possibly read it or can certainly earn a living around it. — Edward Hirsch

By giving, you get, if you don't give, don't expect. — Debasish Mridha

Knowledge in youth is wisdom in age. — Ziad K. Abdelnour

My god, people are selling their work and people are reading it! The horror! That MFA programs have to advertise that they'll let you write YA or fantasy or what-have-you is just absurd, but we do, because the presumption is that they're closed to that sort of thing. You're offering an MFA in creative writing? Teach people how to write well, worry about that part, let the writers come up with the stories. — Tod Goldberg

Wizards can put up with any amount of deprivation and discomfort, provided it is not happening to them. — Terry Pratchett

Email is familiar. It's comfortable. It's easy to use. But it might just be the biggest killer of time and productivity in the office today. — Ryan Holmes

Dogma and shrinking from the external world are at one limit of the range of belief. At the other are science and poetry and, indeed, reality. — Muriel Rukeyser

The fact that so many of your people are today residents and citizens of the United States, lending their influence to our civic and economic life, which has meant so much to our development. — Frank B. Kellogg