I think the most important quality for a writer to have is empathy. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
When I write, I operate as a writer and a reader both - I never know what's going to happen. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
I tend not to write books that are really, really long, and I'm also a pretty fast writer. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
When I write a book, I don't have an idea of what I'm doing. I just go where it leads. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
If I'm on the road for Random House, I'm presenting a book with the hope people will buy it. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
Oftentimes, I need to write about something in order to understand it. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
For me as a writer, it's so joyful to know that someone hears and responds to what I write. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
Whenever I write a novel, most of the time it starts with barest slip of an idea. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
As a writer, you should have a sticky soul; the act of continually taking things in should be as much a part… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
I always wrote as a vehicle for expression but did not try writing for publication until my mid-thirties, at which time I… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
It feels like my books come true. I write these things, and then they kind of end up happening. I wasn't divorced,… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
“Books don’t take time away from us,” she said. “They give it back. In this age of abstraction, of multitasking, of speed… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
It usually takes about a year to write each book. I don't plan it that way. I don't set deadlines. If a… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
“She thinks it was Margaret Atwood who said that wanting to meet a writer because you like their work was like wanting… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
We're not just writers; we're readers probably more than anything else. That's how you learn how to write and how you learn… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
Writing is, of course, a solitary occupation. But for many writers, myself included, it's through writing that we make certain vital connections. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
It is a happy day when I am asked to publicly recommend a book. It is also a dilemma. When I consider… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
In the classics section, she had picked up a copy of The Magic Mountain and recalled the summer between her junior and… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
“I was downstairs, reading." " Now?" I strained to see her face. She was smiling, it appeared. "Yes, now," she said. "It's… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
“For ten years before I began writing for a living, I worked as a registered nurse. Never mind that the work was… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
“The best thing that can happen to me when I'm writing fiction is to lose sight of the fact that I'm writing… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
“When Suzie introduced Helen, she told the audience that one of the best things about books is that they are an interactive… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
When you've written long enough, you see that there's a common theme in your work. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
I think it's harder - much harder - to be a good parent than to write a book. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
The world of literature is so rich and so enriching. The value is inestimable of what reading does for you. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
“Books educate and inspire, and they soothe souls -- like comfort food without the calories.” — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
If I could say anything to aspiring writers, it's to keep your own counsel, first and foremost. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
I don't really like questions about the writing process, because the truth is I don't know how I write. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
If I don't feel like writing on a certain day, I just go to the cafe and hang around. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
In the most self-protective of ways, I don't think about the reader when I'm writing - I just think about the story. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
Never try to copy other writers, and never try to have a formula. It has to come from your heart and soul. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
No, I never thought that I would be a writer. I had always been told I could write well, but it never… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
I suppose writing nonfiction did prepare me for writing fiction. Whenever you write anything, you're honing your skills for writing anything else. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
Writers have a reputation for being distracted. That's because writers are distracted. They are always tuned into that other voice, the one… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
Sometimes the best reading comes just by accident. Someone talks about a book, or you're just wandering the stacks in the library,… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share Image
Never be afraid of doing the thing you know in your heart is right, even if others don't agree. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
“I think the reason we're cruel sometimes is that we're afraid we're going to like something.” — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
If there were a category in the Olympics for laundry, my mother would have been a gold-medal winner. — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
“If you say something over and over again, it begins to lose it's meaning... Say anything enough times and it becomes gibberish.” — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
“You know, sometimes marriage is iron. Sometimes it’s tissue paper. And I think the times it’s tissue paper are when you need to keep… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
“It's not that he doesn't smile; it's that if his smile were something you drew, you'd erase it, thinking, Wrong.” — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
People say you should give until it hurts. I say you should give until it stops hurting. Know what I mean? — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
“I should have said “powder room.” That would evoke the image of me sitting before a beautiful gold mirror, a vase of fresh flowers… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
Sometimes the best reading comes just by accident. Someone talks about a book, or you're just wandering the stacks in the library, and you… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
“I don’t think Martha’s so bad. I think I want her for a friend instead of you. When I look at her magazine, I… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
*We give so little when it's in us always to give so much more. It's bothering to listen with an open heart to someone… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
We're not just writers; we're readers probably more than anything else. That's how you learn how to write and how you learn to appreciate… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
I thought of the priest who'd told me that many religions hold that it is easier to be closely connected to people we love… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
“How is it that we dare to honk at others in traffic, when we know nothing about where they have just come from or… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
The truth is, we usually only show our unhappiness to another woman. I suppose this is one of our problems. And yet it is… — Elizabeth Berg Copy Share
