Art & Creativity Quote by Morris West

A small act of arrogance, dressed up as humility: West is admitting that his most reliable market research is his own curiosity. It’s a writer’s credo that dodges both cynicism (“give people what they want”) and sanctimony (“write only for art”), replacing them with a pragmatic faith in shared appetites. The line works because it’s simultaneously self-centered and democratic. Self-centered because it assumes his inner life is a decent proxy for the public’s. Democratic because it implies readers aren’t a foreign species to be manipulated; they’re fellow citizens of the same emotional weather.

West wrote in a mid-century moment when “serious” fiction still expected to reach large audiences, and when the big novel often tried to arbitrate public morality: church, state, war, conscience. His career (from The Devil’s Advocate to The Shoes of the Fisherman) is built on that bridge between private obsession and collective debate. The principle isn’t just about taste; it’s about permission. It grants the writer license to pursue what nags at them without apologizing for relevance, while quietly asserting that what nags one person often nags many.

The subtext is also defensive. “If it interests me enough” smuggles in a standard of intensity: not every passing fascination qualifies. He’s describing a filter against trend-chasing and against the sterile professionalism that can turn novels into products. The gamble is clear: trust your own fascination, and accept that if you’re wrong, you’re not just unread - you’re exposed.