Writer Quotes · Page 274

The best way to get me to write more books is to read the ones that exist!

— Rebecca Serle

The child lives in the book; but just as much the book lives in the child.

— Elizabeth Bowen

I've never been able to do just one draft. That seems a wonderful thing. Do you know anyone who can?

— Rebecca West

The writer who is a real writer is a rebel who never stops.

— William Saroyan

“Jane became something of a walking thesaurus when she was upset, a side effect of too much reading.”

— Cynthia Hand

I get up every morning early, when the sky is red, and write for 10 hours.

— Isabel Allende

“A good book is always better the second time around.”

— M.T. Acquaire

“Never give up! And write for yourself first and foremost.”

— Aminah Iman

[Lincoln in the Bardo] is not a long book. And that meant I could obsess over it and live in it both…

— George Saunders

The computer is the way I'm making books, but I still think about the physical properties. I visualize the length of a…

— Jonathan Lethem

A man of moderate Understanding, thinks he writes divinely: A man of good Understanding, thinks he writes reasonably.

— Jean de la Bruyere

My idea of a delicious time is to read a book that is wonderful. But the ruling passion of my life is…

— Bell Hooks

We now have in our hands—really, in our libraries—the technology to feed, clothe, and supply energy to an ever-growing population for the…

— Julian Simon

I've never suffered from writer's block. I have plenty of ideas, sometimes too many. I've always had a strong imagination. If it…

— J. G. Ballard

“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”

— Louisa May Alcott

“Have they all bought Kindles? I have one, and I use it most nights. I always imagine the books staring and whispering,…

— Robin Sloan

“If you grew up in a rural area, you have seen how farmhouses come and go, but the dent left by cellars…

— Paul Collins

Maybe all wondrous books appear in our lives the way Milo’s tollbooth appears, an inexplicable gift, cast up by some curious chance…

— Michael Chabon

“Read a book, words by words, to find a story within and be amazed. Your heart will make that poor written book…

— Adam Aksara

Whenever I wrote fiction, people always seemed to think that what I wrote was true, that it was entirely autobiographical. And when…

— Jonathan Ames

I write in spurts. I write when I have to because the pressure builds up and I feel enough confidence that something…

— Susan Sontag

“This book is like any other book. But I would be happy if it were only read by people whose souls are…

— Clarice Lispector

If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them…

— Dorothy Parker

When you are what we call a 'minority writer,' a writer of color, a writer of any kind of difference, there is…

— Rumaan Alam

“once she was engrossed in a good book, all other sounds faded into the background.”

— Adele Abbott

Writing is like the life of a glacier; one eternal grind.

— John Muir

I almost never do free writing. Unless I am forcing my students to do it.

— Rachel Zucker

“You can critique her writing, but not her lifestyle.”

— Lisi Harrison

My book should smell of pines and resound with the hum of insects.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bookstores always remind me that there are good things in this world.

— Vincent Van Gogh

Our job is to read things that are not yet on the page.

— Steve Jobs

“Bullets aren't going to better the world, but books can, and will.”

— Matshona Dhliwayo

“AMAZON bought Goodreads; monopoly isn't just a boardgame”

— Donnie Jochum

When writing is good, everything is symbolic, but symbolic writing is seldom good.

— Wright Morris

Do people still read before bed? I play 'Words With Friends.'

— Rick Perlstein

You never learn how to write a novel. You just learn how to write the novel that you're writing.

— Gene Wolfe

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story. -Terry Pratchett”

— Anna Blondell

I sometimes wonder if I would have become a writer if what happened to my father hadn't happened.

— Hisham Matar

A book is really like a lover. It arranges itself in your life in a way that is beautiful.

— Maurice Sendak

Irene Nemirovsky was a prolific writer punctiliously devoted to her craft.

— Andre Aciman