"Love is the answer to everything. It's the only reason to do anything. If you don't write stories you love, you'll never make it. If you don't write stories that other people love, you'll never make it"
About this Quote
The real sting lands in the double "make it". Bradbury refuses the romantic consolation that passion alone is enough. The sentence is built like a vise: first, you must love it, or you wont endure the repetition, rejection, and years of invisible practice. Then, other people have to love it too, or the work remains a private hobby. That second clause isnt crass; its democratic. Bradbury, a pulp-bred literary star who wrote for magazines and mass audiences, understood that popular love can be rigorous, not cheap. Connection is part of the craft.
Context matters: this is a 20th-century writer who bridged genre and literature while being told, often, that his kind of storytelling didnt count. So he redefines legitimacy. Not prizes, not theory, not gatekeepers: love on both ends of the page. The subtext is bluntly American and bluntly practical: art is devotion plus communication. Without both, youre either performing or whispering into a closet.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Bradbury, Ray. (2026, January 15). Love is the answer to everything. It's the only reason to do anything. If you don't write stories you love, you'll never make it. If you don't write stories that other people love, you'll never make it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/love-is-the-answer-to-everything-its-the-only-163746/
Chicago Style
Bradbury, Ray. "Love is the answer to everything. It's the only reason to do anything. If you don't write stories you love, you'll never make it. If you don't write stories that other people love, you'll never make it." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/love-is-the-answer-to-everything-its-the-only-163746/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Love is the answer to everything. It's the only reason to do anything. If you don't write stories you love, you'll never make it. If you don't write stories that other people love, you'll never make it." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/love-is-the-answer-to-everything-its-the-only-163746/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.




