Writers And Writing Quotes - Page 3

• Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  79 Copy quote

• You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

  Jack London

  Inspirational, Funny, Witty

  Jack London (2015). “Jack London on Adventure: Words of Wisdom from an Expert Adventurer”, p.5, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  87 Copy quote

  Show source

• I try to leave out the parts readers skip.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Trying, Reader

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

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Writing, Bad Ass, Typewriters

  "Exclusive: Never-Before-Seen Photos from Hemingway's Childhood" by James Joiner, www.esquire.com. October 24, 2013.

  95 Copy quote

  Show source

• The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

  Philip Roth

  Work, Writing, Sisterhood

  1979 In the NewYorkTimes Book Review,15 Jul.

  64 Copy quote

  Show source

• No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.

  Robert Frost

  Book, Reading, Writing

  Collected Poems (1939) "Figure a Poem Makes"

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you can't annoy somebody, there is little point in writing.

  Kingsley Amis

  Writing, Editing, Littles

  34 Copy quote

• Writing is the flip side of sex - it's good only when it's over.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Sex, Writing, Flip

  FaceBook post by Hunter S. Thompson from Aug 18, 2014

  57 Copy quote

  Show source

• Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head.

  Gore Vidal

  Writing, Born, Company

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

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• A blank piece of paper is God's way of telling us how hard it is to be God.

  Sidney Sheldon

  Writing, Pieces, Paper

  34 Copy quote

• I think writer's block is simply the dread that you are going to write something horrible. But as a writer, I believe that if you sit down at the keys long enough, sooner or later something will come out.

  Roy Blount, Jr.

  Block, Believe, Inspiration

  7 Copy quote

• The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer, and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn't require any.

  Russell Baker

  Real, Work, Writing

  Russell Baker (2011). “Growing Up”, p.157, RosettaBooks

  45 Copy quote

  Show source

• Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.

  Winston Churchill

  Book, Writing, Adventure

  Winston Churchill (1965). “Winston Churchill, His Wit and Wisdom: Selections from His Works and Speeches”

  36 Copy quote

  Show source

• Write without pay until somebody offers to pay.

  Mark Twain

  Writing, Pay, Offers

  Mark Twain (1992). “Twain: Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches, and Essays, Volume 1: 1852-1890”, p.644, Library of America

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.

  Willa Cather

  Writing, Age, Fifteen

  Quoted in Rene¤ Rapin Willa Cather (1930).

  33 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you have other things in your life-family, friends, good productive day work-these can interact with your writing and the sum will be all the richer.

  David Brin

  Writing, Family Friends, Family Life

  7 Copy quote

• Anecdotes don't make good stories. Generally I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about.

  Alice Munro

  Writing, People, Anecdotes

  FaceBook post by Alice Munro from Sep 17, 2011

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you.

  Arthur Plotnik

  Writing, Heart, Mind

  Arthur Plotnik (1984). “The elements of editing: a modern guide for editors and journalists”, Scribner Paper Fiction

  48 Copy quote

  Show source

• Exercise the writing muscle every day.

  Jane Yolen

  Writing, Exercise, Muscles

  12 Copy quote

• As to the adjective: when in doubt, strike it out.

  Mark Twain

  Writing, Doubt, Adjectives

  Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) ch. 11

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Read, read read. Read everything.

  William Faulkner

  Writing, Famous Writers, Writers Reading

  10 Copy quote

• Writing a novel is like heading out over the open sea in a small boat. It helps, if you have a plan and a course laid out.

  John Gardner

  Writing, Sea, Helping

  6 Copy quote

• The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.

  Andre Gide

  Beautiful, Writing, Madness

  11 Copy quote

• To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.

  Herman Melville

  Book, Writing, Fleas

  Moby Dick ch. 104 (1851)

  51 Copy quote

  Show source

• Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.

  John Ruskin

  Writing, Reader, Skip

  "A Joy for Ever". Book by John Ruskin, note 6, 1857.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source