Writer Quotes · Page 480

“Ruth was a novelist, and novelists, Oliver asserted, should have cats and books.”

— Ruth Ozeki

An author who sets his reader on sounding the depths of his own thoughts serves him best.

— Amos Bronson Alcott

A novel is like a sausage. You might like the final taste but you don't want to see how it was made.

— Harlan Coben

“Its dark and I’m reading my scars because our moments remind me of where I should be.”

— robert m drake

Reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind; it forces you to stretch your own.

— Anonymous

Literature is born when something in life goes slightly adrift.

— Simone de Beauvoir

At a certain moment, I decided to write a story. I had no more small children to tell them stories.

— Umberto Eco

The books weren't exactly Linnet's general reading fare, but a desperate woman will read anything.

— Eloisa James

Writing is my way of expressing - and thereby eliminating - all the various ways we can be wrong-headed.

— Zadie Smith

You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or despair ... Come to it any way but lightly.

— Stephen King

“A deep level of personal engagement is key to good writing and complete immersion by the writer will translate into a richer…

— Nidhie Sharma

“Alice heard a woman say, 'Before I start writing I feel affectionate, interested, and frustrated. In that order. Afterwards I feel relieved,…

— Joy Williams

I was never a great reader, but there were two stories I loved best: Kipling's The Elephant's Child and The Jungle Book.…

— Michael Morpurgo

“the proper mission of librarians: “to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities.”

— The Atlas of New Librarianship

I used to want to be fully observational, but I'm just not that kind of writer. My process always changes depending on…

— Brett Dennen

I am conscious of trying to stretch the boundaries of non-fiction writing. It's always surprised me how little attention many non-fiction writers…

— Alain de Botton

“Most journals are repositories of great swatches of abstraction and generalization and self-analysis and interpretation and all that bad stuff. Don’t do…

— Robert Olen Butler

Kate Bernheimer's fiction offers a unique and delicate gift, the tempting mirage of a grace that constantly escapes. The Complete Tales of…

— Lydia Millet

The way we learn to write is the way we learn to talk: We listen to others and start mimicking speech, and…

— Rick Yancey

Theodor Geisel (otherwise known as Dr. Seuss) spent his workdays ensconced in his private studio, the walls lined with sketches and drawings,…

— Susan Cain

“Most people either love or hate old libraries. To some, a room like this--dim, high-ceilinged, dusty, smelling of old paper and crumbling…

— Anonymous

But writers experience the world and themselves in a unique way. We look for meaning. We see it even when we are…

— Larry Brooks

I don't read for amusement, I read for enlightenment. I do a lot of reviewing, so I have a steady assignment of…

— Joyce Carol Oates

The art of writing is not, as many seem to imagine, the art of bringing fine phrases into rhythmical order, but the…

— George Henry Lewes

“If I could choose I would rather be happy than write.”

— Jean Rhys

I just feel like myself when I'm writing. If I don't do it, I get depressed.

— Olivia Rodrigo

Unfortunately, a lot of kids don't read anymore. I don't know what we can do about that.

— Jean Smart

A writer doesn't really have much of a function on a movie set.

— Tom Stoppard

“Show me what you've written," I said, although I wanted desperately to avoid looking at it.”

— Osamu Dazai

You know there's some great folks, great story telling at 'Dateline,' and I'm glad to be a part of it.

— Lester Holt

“I could write paper people and I would love them too; I could make them almost real.”

— Ally Condie

As for writing about temptation, there's no drama without temptation, and no novel without drama.

— Tom Perrotta

“Because books saved my life, literally, I've become close to them”

— Malebo Sephodi

“No one ever goes to libraries. And they know ALL the good stuff. (Layla Miller)”

— Craig Kyle and Chris Yost

The world would get along very well without literature. It would get along even better without man.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

“You used to be entertaining before you started to write.”

— f scoot fitzgerald

There's less skill and more plain hard work to writing than anyone except a writer thinks.

— Mabel Seeley

People like me write because otherwise we are pretty inarticulate. Our articulation is our writing.

— William Trevor

“Sometimes we need fellow radicals to remind us of what we, as writers, have set out to proclaim.”

— Michael Graves

“Never underestimate a writer's vanity, especially that of a mediocre writer. (The Angel's Game)”

— Carlos Ruiz Zafón