"If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire must be not to write"
About this Quote
The intent is behavioral, not inspirational. Prather isn’t trying to “motivate” so much as expose the psychology of postponement: the way we confuse wanting the status of being a writer with wanting the work. “Desire to write” often functions as a socially acceptable costume for fear - fear of mediocrity, of being read, of finishing and discovering the thing isn’t as good as the fantasy. By redefining the desire as “not to write,” he reframes procrastination as active preference, not passive failure. That’s a harsh gift, because preferences can be changed only after they’re admitted.
The subtext is also anti-romantic. It pushes back on the cultural myth that creativity is primarily a feeling, a calling, a mood you wait for. Prather, a writer steeped in reflective, spiritual-inflected prose, aims at the ego’s favorite loophole: intention without action. The line is a diagnostic tool. If you’re not writing, the truth isn’t that life got in the way; it’s that something in you is choosing safety over contact with the page.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Evidence: If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire is not to write. (null). The strongest primary-source evidence I found points to Hugh Prather's own book Notes to Myself: My Struggle to Become a Person, originally published in 1970 by Real People Press. WorldCat lists the original publication as 1970, and Google Books confirms the 1970 Real People Press edition. Multiple later quotation references specifically attribute this wording to Notes to Myself. I could verify the book-level source and year, but I could not verify the exact page or chapter from a directly viewable scan in the time available. Also, the wording commonly circulating online as 'must be not to write' appears to differ from the book attribution used in later references, which give 'is not to write.' Other candidates (1) Creative Is a Verb (Patti Digh, 2010) compilation95.0% ... If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire must be not to write. —Hugh Prather ... |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Prather, Hugh. (2026, March 14). If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire must be not to write. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-the-desire-to-write-is-not-accompanied-by-125560/
Chicago Style
Prather, Hugh. "If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire must be not to write." FixQuotes. March 14, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-the-desire-to-write-is-not-accompanied-by-125560/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire must be not to write." FixQuotes, 14 Mar. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-the-desire-to-write-is-not-accompanied-by-125560/. Accessed 31 Mar. 2026.
