VIctoria Bui

15 Incredible Quotes From Writers Who Became Famous After Death

These writers were either locally recognized, unknown recluses, or severely rejected in the literary world. Some of them died of natural causes, others ended their lives out of frustration and disappointment. However, they do all have one thing in common.
Bianca Sparacino
September 1, 2016
“Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
— Franz Kafka, Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories
Tagged: Literary Fame
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
— Edgar Allan Poe, The Last Letters of Edgar Allan Poe to Sarah Helen Whitman
Tagged: Literary Fame
“You could tell by the way he talked, though, that he had gone to school a long time. That was probably what was wrong with him.”
— John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
Tagged: Literary Fame
“Employers sense in me a denial of their values, they fear me. I suspect that they can see that I am forced to function in a century which I loathe.’”
— John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
Tagged: Literary Fame
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Tagged: Literary Fame
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Tagged: Literary Fame
“I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.”
— Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (Modern Classics)
Tagged: Literary Fame
“I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life. And I am horribly limited.”
— Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals Of Sylvia Plath
Tagged: Literary Fame
“What she had realized was that love was that moment when your heart was about to burst.’”
— Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Series)
Tagged: Literary Fame
“Always retain the ability to walk away, without sentimentality, from a situation that felt unmanageable. That was a basic rule of survival. Don't lift a finger for a lost cause.”
— Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium Series)
Tagged: Literary Fame
“Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.”
— Anne Frank, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Tagged: Lit After Death, character
“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
— Anne Frank, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Tagged: Goodness, Good, heart
“According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.”
— Plato, Symposium
Tagged: soulmates, Love, Forever, Fear of losing someone
“The truth I do not dare to know.”
— Emily Dickinson, Bolts of Melody: New Poems of Emily Dickinson
Tagged: Truth About Love, Honesty