I never wrote anything down. I never kept a diary, never kept a journal. I did write one letter home about touring… — Linda Ronstadt Copy Share Image
“Several times he had to flatten himself against the shelves as a thesaurus thundered by. He waited patiently as a herd of… — Terry Pratchett Copy Share Image
“Sang Ly, we are literature-our lives, our hopes, our desires, our despairs, our passions, our strengths, our weaknesses. Stories express our longing… — Camron Wright Copy Share Image
My parents both work in publishing, and I was a bright, academic kind of kid, and I read a lot of books,… — Harry Lloyd Copy Share Image
When everything does seem out of control, writing fiction is a way I can order that chaos and restore some sort of… — Miriam Toews Copy Share Image
As a writer myself, my job has very often been to also write on the job. So you get the script and… — Sally Phillips Copy Share Image
There is no excuse for anyone to write fiction for public consumption unless he has been called to do so by the… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“The best way a writer can find to keep himself going is to live off his (or her) spouse. The trouble is… — John Gardner Copy Share Image
“The real measure of 'truth' in any novel is not whether the characters, places and events portrayed exist beyond the pages of… — Graeme Macrae Burnet Copy Share Image
“Currently, the Library of Congress houses eighteen million books. American publishers add another two hundred thousand titles to this stack each year.… — Tony Reinke Copy Share Image
I think at this point I only write books about questions I really want to figure out. They're indulgences, essentially. I think,… — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
Reading alters the appearance of a book. Once it has been read, it never looks the same again, and people leave their… — Paul Theroux Copy Share Image
You start thinking about a character in a new book, of course you're going to think pretty soon, 'Well, what's their secret?… — Nancy Werlin Copy Share Image
“Writing. It's a trivial pursuit, hardly worth the effort, inconsequential on any cosmic level. It's just blood and sweat and guts and… — Kim Newman Copy Share Image
What I am going to write is the last of what I have to say. I will say that literature is the… — John Cheever Copy Share Image
Every morning between 9 and 12 I go to my room and sit before a piece of paper. Many times, I just… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“I think that [William] Faulkner and I each had to escape certain particulars of our lives, and we found salvation through words.… — Tennessee Williams Copy Share Image
Writing and drawing are very therapeutic, but they are also an excellent manifestation tool. I teach my clients to draw what they… — Alice McCall Copy Share Image
“Though frankly… Tarnapol, as he is called, is beginning to seem as imaginary as my Zuckermans anyway, or at least as detached… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
There's no reason to keep a piece of furniture in your house that is so sacred and rare that you can't put… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world." [ Speech upon being awarded the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels… — Susan Sontag Copy Share Image
For someone who is starting out on developing their critical skills, just being aware of its existence is great: it can make… — Charles Stross Copy Share Image
When we learn to read, it's a real product of civilization and a civilized society. It affects your brain. It affects the… — Jeanette Winterson Copy Share Image
I use an e-reader when I'm traveling: I love carrying dozens of books on a small lightweight device, and I'm still amazed… — Chris Pavone Copy Share Image
“Writers, naturally, dream of becoming authors. Authors dream of writing a bestseller. Bestselling authors want to write more bestsellers. And everyone hopes… — Amy Hill Hearth Copy Share Image
I was recently asked what it takes to become a writer. Three things, I answered: first, one must cultivate incompetence at almost… — Joseph Epstein Copy Share Image
A ratio of failures is built into the process of writing. The wastebasket has evolved for a reason. Think of it as… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant’s brilliant non-fiction about humankind’s tragically ambivalent relationship with the… — John Burnham Schwartz Copy Share Image
“That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you… — Mary Ann Shaffer Copy Share Image
“When I pick up a book and read it, I want to be transported. I want to be taken someplace that I… — Anthony Marra Copy Share Image
“... Few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those… — Carlos Ruiz Zafón Copy Share Image
There are those who say that life is like a book, with chapters for each event in your life and a limited… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
As one of the first editors at 'Outside' magazine in 1975, it was my contention that most American writing going back to… — Tim Cahill Copy Share Image
“What’s the point of having countless books and libraries, whose titles could hardly be read through in a lifetime. The learner is… — Ryan Holiday Copy Share Image
My work is very dear to me, and certainly I have had all the emotional highs and lows that go with trying… — Daniel Handler Copy Share Image
“I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve sat at my kitchen table working on these pages, been interrupted by… — Hillary Rodham Clinton Copy Share Image
“In the kitchen Anna was quietly plotting to get rid of him. A brief talk, then she would contact the publisher and… — Steven Swift Copy Share Image
Take a book, the poorest one written, but read it with the passion that it is the only book you will read.… — Soren Kierkegaard Copy Share Image
The woman dashed up the staircase toward the library's main doors. Arriving at the top of the stairs, she grabbed the handle… — Dan Brown Copy Share Image
A virtuoso performance. Scott Thompson’s biography of the soldier statesman Fidel V. Ramos illustrates the fascinating and complex geography of Filipino politics… — F. Sionil José Copy Share Image