Inspiring Writing Quotes

• I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering.

  Robert Frost

  Powerful, Writing, Poetry

  1955 In the NewYork Times, 7 Nov.

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• Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.

  Napoleon Hill

  Powerful, Writing, Goal

  Napoleon Hill (2015). “Think and grow rich: Brazilian edition”, p.80, CDG Edições e Publicações LTDA

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• The artist doesn't have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don't have the time to read reviews.

  William Faulkner

  Art, Powerful, Writing

  "William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12". Interview with Jean Stein, www.theparisreview.org. 1956.

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• Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

  William Wordsworth

  Life, Beauty, Beautiful

  William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth, Ernest De Selincourt, Alan G. Hill, Chester Linn Shaver (1967). “The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth: Volume VIII. A Supplement of New Letters”, p.51, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Positive, Art

  "Conversations with Maya Angelou". Book by Jeffrey M. Elliot, 1989.

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• Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on

  Louis L'Amour

  Inspirational, Writing, Kids

  Louis L'Amour (2008). “Education of a Wandering Man”, p.102, Bantam

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• There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Moving On, Powerful

  FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Feb 14, 2013

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• You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

  Ray Bradbury

  Inspirational, Writing, Reality

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• Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.

  Ray Bradbury

  Writing, Intuition, Way

  Ray Bradbury, Steven L. Aggelis (2004). “Conversations with Ray Bradbury”, p.124, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.

  Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

  Music, Work, Inspiration

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• Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.

  E. L. Doctorow

  Writing, Schizophrenia, Form

  Interview in "Writers at Work" (The Paris Review Interviews), 8th Series, 1988.

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• Being a writer means taking the leap from listening to saying 'Listen to me'.

  Jhumpa Lahiri

  Inspiration, Mean, Writing

  "Trading Stories" by Jhumpa Lahiri, www.newyorker.com. June 13&20, 2011.

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• The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Funny, Humorous

  Mark Twain (2014). “Mark Twain on Common Sense: Timeless Advice and Words of Wisdom from America's Most-Revered Humorist”, p.13, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.

  Anne Lamott

  Writing, Effort, Needs

  Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.25, Anchor

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• If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.

  Stephen King

  Writing, Caring, Tools

  Stephen King (2000). “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft”, p.174, Simon and Schuster

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• Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.

  Anton Chekhov

  Inspirational, Writing, Moon

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• A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.

  Richard Bach

  Perseverance, Writing, Editing

  Richard Bach (2012). “A Gift of Wings”, p.9, Dell

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• Easy reading is damn hard writing.

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

  Powerful, Reading, Writing

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• If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

  Toni Morrison

  Inspirational, Happiness, Attitude

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• I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of.

  Joss Whedon

  Hipster, Writing, Character

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Powerful, Spring, Writing

  Ernest Hemingway (2014). “Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition”, p.64, Simon and Schuster

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• I must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living.

  Anne Morrow Lindbergh

  Education, Powerful, Writing

  Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1974). “Locked rooms and open doors”, Not Avail

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• The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book.

  Samuel Johnson

  Time, Powerful, Book

  Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 6 Apr. 1775)

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• I try to leave out the parts readers skip.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Trying, Reader

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Writing, Humility, Crafts

  "New York Journal-American" Newspaper, July 11, 1961.

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