I love quotations! (Doesn’t everybody?)
That’s why I display a “Weekly Quote” relevant to my blog’s most recent post and the college process in general.
Today I’m sharing my favorite quotes on the lost arts of reading and writing, the two most essential (but surprisingly overlooked) ingredients for getting into one’s dream college.
Nailing impressive grades and test scores, submitting knock’em dead (and grammatically correct) essays, really isn’t that difficult. Forget field hockey. All a student has to do throughout high school, is immerse oneself in reading and writing. The rest will take care of itself. With an enriched, deeper appreciation of life as a side benefit. So this summer, encourage your kid to read a few quality books, and keep a journal. And now for the quotes on those two lost arts!
Reading
“You are what you read.” -Esko Valtaoja (Finnish astronomer, professor, writer)
“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” -René Descartes (17th C. French philosopher, physicist, mathematician)
“What is reading, but silent conversation.” -Charles Lamb (19th C. British essayist)
“These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.” -Gilbert Highet (20th C. Scottish-American classicist, critic, literary historian)
“If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you.” - Natalie Goldberg (American Zen writer)
“Good writing comes from good reading.” -Charles Kuralt (20th C. American journalist)
“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.” – Stephen King (American author of horror, suspense, fantasy, science fiction)
Writing
“Writing is thinking on paper.” -William Zinsser (journalist, editor, journalism professor)
“The only way to learn to write is to write.” -Peggy Teeters (British author of children’s, young adult books)
“Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” -Barbara Kingsolver (American novelist, essayist, poet)
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.” -Anais Nin (20th C. French writer of journals, erotica)
“Detail makes the difference between boring and terrific writing. It’s the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors.” -Rhys Alexander (American English professor)
“Do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in few.” -Pythagoras (Greek philosopher, mathematician)
“Make it new.” -Ezra Pound (20th C. American expatriate poet)
“Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet.” -Annonymous
I hope these quotations illuminate my simple suggestion: The lost arts of reading and writing can bestow upon your teen tremendous power, rare in our culture, that will reap gratifying returns in the college process.
Resources: Quotes About Writing, BrainyQuote,ThinkExist, Richmond K-12 Reading Quotes. Related posts: Preparing for College Essays by Journaling, Does the College Essay Topic Matter?
