A fountain pen leans in a glass of water with a small pale bulb hanging beside it against a coral background.

Original artwork, not a still

Elbert Hubbard

Writers seldom write the things they think. They simply write the things they think other folks think they think.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Hubbard jabs at writers who perform for their audience. Instead of setting down their own thoughts, they guess what readers imagine those thoughts to be. The joke is a dizzying loop of thinking about what others think you think.

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