Writer Quotes · Page 309

Books are islands in the ocean of time. They are also oases in the deserts of time.

— Lawrence Clark Powell

The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.

— Anonymous

In picture-making the writer is the most important cog in the wheel.

— Samuel Goldwyn

I'm not a nerd, don't plan to be a nerd and read books - which I can't do at all.

— Virat Kohli

If you want to write good copy, you must be where the things are.

— Anonymous

My mother would read aloud to my father and me in the evening. She read mainly travel books.

— Beverly Cleary

“Books educate and inspire, and they soothe souls -- like comfort food without the calories.”

— Elizabeth Berg

To own a certain book - and to choose it without help - is to define yourself.

— Julian Barnes

(about Kindles) I have one and I use it most nights. I always imagine the books staring and whispering, Traitor!

— Robin Sloan

I have a day job, which means my family isn't dependent on the writing income. So if I have an idea I…

— Jim C. Hines

Professed authors who overestimate their vocation are too full of themselves to be agreeable companions. The demands of their egotism are inveterate.

— Henry Theodore Tuckerman

Books are great for if you want to work on the craft of writing for yourself, or, you know, to write novels…

— Thomas Lennon

“Individuals who frequently read fiction seem to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and see the world from…

— Annie Murphy Paul

“Do you wait for things to happen, or do you make them happen yourself? I believe in writing your own story.”

— Anonymous

Two questions I can't really answer about fiction are 1) where it comes from, and 2) why we need it. But that…

— Marilynne Robinson

Marvelously entertaining, Gabrielle Donnellys The Little Women Letters evokes the spirit of Louisa May Alcotts Little Women with warmth and affection. I…

— Jennifer Chiaverini

“-And there's this twelve thousand dollars item for books. -That supposed to be twelve hundred, the twelve thousand is for paper. towels.…

— William Gaddis

During my last year of college I wrote the same ten pages over and over again. Those ten pages became the first…

— Patricia Briggs

I tend to write things seven times before I show them to my editor. I write them seven times, then I take…

— David Sedaris

Every time you hear someone read your book and liked your book, you're never sure whether that's going to follow with a…

— Joshua Ferris

“I love books. I adore everything about them. I love the feel of the pages on my fingertips. They are light enough…

— Nnedi Okorafor

I've had journals ever since I was really little. Sometimes I write poems and stuff, but for the most part I write…

— Miranda Cosgrove

I think there's a lot of interesting stuff on TV. I feel much more optimistic about TV than I do about movies.…

— Alan Ball

I started out in graduate school to be a fiction writer. I thought I wanted to write short stories. I started writing…

— Natasha Trethewey

With contemporary writers, I often buy books and then realise I've bought them before.

— Prue Leith

I've always been a writer, I've always been a storyteller, but I never thought about screenwriting.

— Diablo Cody

“Since I have become a slave of writing, the pleasure of reading has ended for me.”

— Italo Calvino

If I could say anything to aspiring writers, it's to keep your own counsel, first and foremost.

— Elizabeth Berg

What you must accept is that your life is not going to be the same while you are writing.

— Chinua Achebe

The language fictional characters use is chosen for effect, at least if the author is concentrating.

— John M. Ford

Well, I'm reading about the battle of New Orleans right now. I've got an eclectic reading list.

— George W. Bush

Since childhood, I wrote a lot of fiction, a lot of stories, but I most loved writing essays.

— Jill Lepore

A publisher many years ago asked if I'd like to write a novel for £50. And I said, 'Absolutely.'

— Tom Stoppard

Neither the writer nor the reader can save the world by themselves. Or escape it entirely.

— Amitava Kumar

To be an honest writer, you have to be away from home, and totally alone in life.

— Miguel Syjuco

“Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future. Just ask Ray Bradbury.”

— Kami Garcia

Half the time I pick up a book, that's what I'm trying to get.

— Donald Miller

“You'll never be as good as the next page you write, or as bad as the last one.”

— D.E.M. Emrys

“Don't buy books for your shelf, buy them for yourself.”

— Saji Ijiyemi

“Nonfiction lets us learn more; fiction lets us be more.”

— Kylene Beers