I believe that only poetry counts ... A great novelist is first of all a great poet. — Francois Mauriac Copy Share Image
If you only write when inspired, you may be a fairly decent poet, but you'll never be a novelist. — Neil Gaiman Copy Share Image
I don't really consider myself a novelist, it just came out purely by accident. — Wole Soyinka Copy Share Image
A novelist has to know enough about a subject to fool the passenger next to him on an airplane. — David Foster Wallace Copy Share Image
Unfortunately for novelists, real life is getting way too funny and far-fetched. — Carl Hiaasen Copy Share Image
America's founding Ideal was the principle of individual rights. Nothing more - and nothing less. — Ayn Rand Copy Share Image
It is in their 'good' characters that novelists make, unawares, the most shocking self- revelations. — C. S. Lewis Copy Share Image
Here's a secret. Many novelists, if they are pressed and if they are being honest, will admit that the finished book is… — Michael Cunningham Copy Share Image
A novelist should make you realize nothing is stable. If you don't believe anything with robustness, you're doing something more radical than… — Howard Jacobson Copy Share Image
Novelists are stamina merchants, grinders, nine-to-fivers, and their career curves follow the usual arc of human endeavour. — Martin Amis Copy Share Image
Reviewers do not read books with much care . . . their profession is more given to stupidity and malice and literary… — Anthony Burgess Copy Share Image
Writing tends to be very deliberate. A novelist could probably run a military campaign with some success. They could certainly run a… — Colm Toibin Copy Share Image
If the novelist isn't surprised by where his book ends up, he or she probably hasn't written anything worth remembering. — Tom Robbins Copy Share Image
Many thousands of people have had the experience of finding the first friend, and it is none the less a wonder; as… — C. S. Lewis Copy Share Image
When a novelist or screenwriter is looking for a subject, the element he's seeking is conflict. Conflict makes drama. Conflict produces great… — Steven Pressfield Copy Share Image
It is however, difficult to make your narratives relative by yourself. A novelists' work is to provide models to make your narratives… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Even if I couldn't get my early novels published, I could still write. I went into newspapers, where I got paid to… — Linwood Barclay Copy Share Image
I would rather win souls than be the greatest king or emperor on earth; I would rather win souls than be the… — R. A. Torrey Copy Share Image
I had, like any other young novelist, started out by believing the difficult thing was to get published and that, once you… — Mordecai Richler Copy Share Image
My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just… — C. S. Lewis Copy Share Image
The man without a purpose is a man who drifts at the mercy of random feelings or unidentified urges and is capable… — Ayn Rand Copy Share Image
When they can't win a debate (can they ever?), leftists deploy what the late novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand called the argument from intimidation.… — Don Feder Copy Share Image
Novelists have, on the average, about the same IQs as the cosmetic consultants at Bloomingdale’s department store. Our power is patience. We… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
So long as a novelist works selfishly for the pleasure of creating character and situation corresponding to his own illusions, ideals and… — Willa Cather Copy Share Image
I said it before and I’ll say it again: books are dead, plays are dead, poems are dead: there’s only movies. Music… — Stephen Fry Copy Share Image
The Catholic novelist in the South will see many distorted images of Christ, but he will certainly feel that a distorted image… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“Balzac was pretty funny. His philosophy is plain and simple, says basically that pure materialism is a recipe for madness. The only… — Bob Dylan Copy Share Image
Obviously cheap sentimentality isn't something any good novelist wants to traffic in, but I think it's a problem if you consider it… — Steve Erickson Copy Share Image
Radio, or at least the kind of radio we're proposing to do, can cut through that. It can reach people who would… — Daniel Alarcon Copy Share Image
Whenever I become discouraged (which is on alternate Tuesdays, between three and four) I lift my spirits by remembering: The artists are… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
