Tillie Olsen was born today, January 14. She is a daring writer associated with the political upheaval of the 1930s and with the first generation of feminists. A few of her wise words to ponder and apply:

“And when is there time to remember, to sift, to weight, to estimate, to total?

“It is distraction, not meditation, that becomes habitual; interruption, not continuity; spasmodic, not constant, toil.”

“She would not exchange her solitude for anything. Never again to be forced to move to the rhythm of others.”

“I could not live by literature if only to begin with, because of the slow maturing of my work and its special character.”

“Women have the right to say: this is surface, this falsifies reality,, this degrades.”

“Literature is a place for generosity and affection and hunger for equals, not a prizefight ring. We are increased, confirmed in our medium, roused to do our best, by every good writer, every fine achievement.”

“Literary history and the present are dark with silences…The silences I speak of are unnatural: the unnatural thwarting of what struggles to come into being, but cannot.”

“”It is a long baptism into the seas of humankind, my daughter. Better immersion than to live untouched.”

“Not to have an audience is a kind of death.”

“Every woman who writes is a survivor.”

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