"Ultimately, literature is nothing but carpentry. With both you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood"
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
About this Quote
This quote by Gabriel Garcia Marquez recommends that literature and woodworking are similar because they both include working with truth. He indicates that reality is a material that is simply as difficult to work with as wood. This suggests that both carpentry and literature need skill and effort to develop something meaningful. Marquez is recommending that literature is a craft, and that it requires the exact same level of ability and dedication as woodworking. He is highlighting the importance of effort and commitment in order to produce something of value. Ultimately, Marquez is suggesting that literature is a craft that needs ability and effort to produce something significant.
"A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect"
"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it"
