CUT!

I thought today’s post would be an easy ‘cut and paste’ project…

Consisting of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette’s…

Quotes on writing and cats.

But four hours have passed…

And I’m still researching her and her life.

There’s so much I’d like to put here…

But not enough space.

I will give you though, some of my favorite quotes of hers…

And a bit of info on her.

She was quite a woman…

Quite a prolific writer…

A lover of cats…

And (ha, ha), fearful of spiders.

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, known simply as Colette, is one of France’s most famous female writers. At age 20 and ill-prepared for both married life and the Paris scene, Colette married the writer and critic Henri Gauthier-Villars (“Willy”), 15 years her senior. He introduced her to the world of Parisian salons and the demimonde, and, not long after their marriage, he discovered her talent for writing. Locking her in a room to encourage her to focus on the task at hand, Willy forced her to write— but published as his own work— the four “Claudine” novels.

“Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.”
 

“Writing only leads to more writing.” 

"The writer ho loses his self-doubt, who gives way as grows old to a sudden euphoria, to prolixity, should stop writing immediately" the time has come for him to lay aside his pen." "Give me a dozen such heartbreaks, if that would help me lose a few pounds."

"My cat does not talk as respectfully to me as I do to her."

“I am indebted to the cat for a particular kind of honorable deceit, for a greater control over myself, for a characteristic aversion to brutal sounds, and for the need to keep silent for long periods of time.”

“There are no ordinary cats”

“January, month of empty pockets! let us endure this evil month, anxious as a theatrical producer's forehead.” 

“By associating with the cat one only risks becoming richer.”

“A pretty little collection of weaknesses and a terror of spiders are our indispensable stock-in-trade with the men.” 

“I am indebted to the species of the cat for a particular kind of honorable deceit, for great control over myself, for characteristic aversion to brutal sounds, and for the need to keep silent for long periods of time.”

“What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner.” 

She died in 1954 in Paris and given a full state funeral. Many thousands attended.

Always, Em-Musing

Disclaimer: I am not the author of what's written in italics.