Joan Didion said this quote

“ The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself. I suppose that it begins or does not begin in the cradle. Although I have felt compelled to write things down since I was five years old, I doubt that my daughter ever will, for she is a singularly blessed and accepting child, delighted with life exactly as life presents itself to her, unafraid to go to sleep and unafraid to wake up. Keepers of private notebooks are a different breed altogether, lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some presentiment of loss. ”

Famous Quotes of Joan Didion

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Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life — is the source from which self-respect springs.

~ Joan Didion

Joan Didion Character Life Responsibility Self Respect

I tell you this true story just to prove that I can. That my frailty has not yet reached a point at which I can no longer tell a true story.

~ Joan Didion

Joan Didion Ability Inspirational Talent Truth Writing

The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself. I suppose that it begins or does not begin in the cradle.

~ Joan Didion

Joan Didion Compulsion Writing

We imagined we knew everything the other thought, even when we did not necessarily want to know it, but in fact, I have come to see, we knew not the smallest fraction of what there was to know.

~ Joan Didion

Joan Didion Relationships