Life's Pleasures Quote by Michael Tolkin

Tolkin’s line is a pin aimed at the overinflated mythology of writers: the idea that a person with a keyboard can perform actual miracles, redeem bad material, and alchemize chaos into meaning on demand. The water-into-wine reference isn’t just a biblical flex; it’s a sly way of naming how entertainment culture borrows religious language for secular gods. We don’t merely admire writers, we anoint them, then act surprised when the anointed turns out to be human.

The specific intent is corrective, almost parental. Tolkin, as a screenwriter, has lived inside an industry that alternates between worship and blame. When a project works, the writer becomes a genius. When it doesn’t, the writer becomes the weak link. The quote needles both reflexes. It punctures the fantasy that there’s always a single authorial savior who can rescue a messy production, a compromised budget, an incoherent note process, or the fundamental problem that not every premise wants to be a movie.

The subtext is also self-protective: don’t ask artists to be priests. Tolkin is arguing for reasonable expectations, and maybe for a little humility from audiences and executives alike. Writers can refine, clarify, elevate, and sometimes transform. But they can’t suspend physics. Treating them like miracle-workers is a convenient way to outsource responsibility - and a quick route to disappointment when the “miracle” comes back as a draft with track changes.