Quotes of Our Lives

“I shall live badly if I do not write. I shall write badly if I do not live.”

That quote comes from Françoise Sagan. Who is Françoise Sagan, you ask? Well, to be honest, until 5 minutes ago, I didn't have a clue. I got the quote from the first page of an introduction to a book called A Cup of Comfort for Writers, edited by Colleen Sell, which my friend Cami gave me for Christmas.

I like the quote because it defines me. When I perused it, I found myself saying, “Wow, that’s me.” But as typically happens when I read a quote that I like and it turns out to be from someone I don’t know, I feel a pang of guilt for not knowing who the person is. As if I’m supposed to be familiar with every writer on earth. And then I feel obligated to obliterate the embarrassing point of not knowing before anyone finds out by figuring out who she is. Pronto.

So I went to my usual first choice for tidbits of history — Wikipedia — and found her biography. Turns out she was a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter and proverbial bad girl — she hung out with Truman Capote, did a lot of drugs, and had two very brief marriages. One lasted a year, the other two. Nice effort there, Françoise.

She didn’t write anything I’ve ever heard of: Hello Sadness is the only book they even mention, but of interest is their note that her book title was the inspiration for the first line of Simon & Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence: “Hello darkness my old friend…” And there it is. That 15 minutes of fame I was looking for so I could say, “Ohhh, herrrrrr.”

So now, if anyone brings her name up at a party I can always say, “Yes, I know of her. Her book Hello Sadness inspired the first line of the Simon & Garfunkel song Sounds of Silence,” And smile sweetly. Shortly thereafter I’ll look around the room and my conversation partner will have wandered off, no doubt to jump on the Internet and find out who Francoise Sagan was before they get caught off guard again.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.