What is a Writer?

Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method. . . .Writers are really people who write books not because they are poor, but because they are dissatisfied with the books which they could buy but do not like. You, ladies and gentleman, may regard this as a whimsical definition of a writer.

Walter Benjamin, “Unpacking My Library,” in Illuminations: Essays and Reflections, ed. Hannah Arendt (New York: Schocken, 1968), 61. 

HT: David Sehat at US Intellectual History

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