I started writing books for children because I could illustrate them myself and because, in my innocence, I thought they'd be easier. — Mark Haddon Copy Share Image
A book ... unlike a television program, moving picture or any other 'modern means of communication' ... can wait for years, yet… — Joseph Wood Krutch Copy Share Image
A writer who has published as many books as I have has developed, of necessity, a hide like a rhino's, while inside… — Joyce Carol Oates Copy Share Image
I tend to write a pretty half and half split of, like, slow, morose things and then sort of more upbeat stuff. — James Mercer Copy Share Image
Mostly I've just been stealing little moments for myself in order to write - in the bathroom at a hotel, or just… — Adrianne Lenker Copy Share Image
“Away I turned, from the ghosts that brought me to this place. From an insatiable desperation to be wanted and my urge… — Jennifer Irwin Copy Share Image
“The essence of writing? A hound chasing a fox: irrationally compelled to win the prize and eventual disappointment that it's eluded you.” — Carol Morgan Copy Share Image
“Thackeray is careful not to present a protagonist who is malevolently evil from birth; to trace a figure like this is unrewarding… — Martin J. Anisman Copy Share Image
I've always found it best to have a routine. I go to my study at the same time every day and climb… — Diane Ackerman Copy Share Image
“Libraries really are the gates to the future. So it is unfortunate that, round the world, we observe local authorities seizing the… — Neil Gaiman Copy Share Image
I don't think I ever have trouble with writer's block. It's different when you make it up as you go - that… — Donald E. Westlake Copy Share Image
“been forgotten, but his longest novel, Moby-Dick — largely considered a failure during his lifetime, and responsible for Melville's drop in popularity… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
Sometimes you buy a book, powerfully drawn to it, but then it just sits on the shelf. Maybe you flick through it,… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
For eighteen centuries every engine of destruction that human science, philosophy, wit, reasoning or brutality could bring to bear against a book… — R. A. Torrey Copy Share Image
Until I became a published writer, I remained completely ignorant of books on how to write and courses on the subject ...… — Isaac Asimov Copy Share Image
“Do you want me to come to the hospital? she offered." Bryant's blue eyes widened. "Good Lord, no, why would you want… — Christopher Fowler Copy Share Image
“What capacity could have renovated your brain, endowing you with new, specialised skills as well as inducing specific codnitive deficits? This exotic… — Joseph Henrich Copy Share Image
I might be at a point where I don't want to go with a genre convention but I have to produce some… — Charlie Huston Copy Share Image
“You took out a book on blow-job technique from the British Library? They shouldn't have books like that in there!” — Sarra Manning Copy Share Image
My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench. — Wilbur Smith Copy Share Image
Henry James joyously engaged in the act of writing. A good day's writing gave him a sense of strength, of control over… — Leon Edel Copy Share Image
Books are not only the arbitrary sum of our dreams, and our memory. They also give us the model of self-transcende nce. — Susan Sontag Copy Share Image
“What's crucial is whether your writing attains the standards you've set for yourself. (...) Basically a writer has a quiet, inner motivation,… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Fiction writing is a strange business when you think about it. You sit down and weave a network of lies to explore… — Wally Lamb Copy Share Image
If a writer is good at what he does, it's not easy to do a good job every day... To invent something… — Barun Sobti Copy Share Image
I wanted to write it long before I wrote Every Night, Josephine! I'd been thinking about it a long time. — Jacqueline Susann Copy Share Image
Books entered my house under cover of night, from the four winds, smuggled in by woodland creatures, and then they never left.… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
What obsesses a writer starting out on a lifetime's work is the panic-stricken search for a voice of his own. — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
“I'm always amazed that people will stand around books for hours and only look at the spine. I think I should write… — Richie Norton Copy Share Image
“Writers are either bullfighters, who risk all for art... or bullshitters, who make fake passes in an empty ring. To be a… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
When Goldie Hawn wrote her memoirs, no one said Goldie Hawn was snitching. When Jane Fonda wrote her memoirs, no one said… — Karrine Steffans Copy Share Image
“You look…happy,” Owen said as Nora stepped into the library. “Did you do something inappropriate?” “I’m not that happy,” Nora answered. He” — Timandra Whitecastle Copy Share Image
At its best, the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace. It is handed to you, but only if you… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
“Live in the library, for Christ’s sake! Don’t live on your goddamn computers and the internet and all that crap. Go to… — Ray Bradbury Copy Share Image
She would bring you some great book because she was a book matchmaker, because she loved books the way other girls loved… — Deb Caletti Copy Share Image
For me, it's always about what's on the page. I have tremendous respect for writing. When you recognize good writing, and you're… — Nestor Carbonell Copy Share Image
“one of the most pleasant qualities of a reader who has lived among books all his life is that he does not… — Maurice Francis Egan Copy Share Image
My writing process is ritualized and monotonous, but there's no other way to get the job done. All other fiction writers I've… — Douglas Coupland Copy Share Image
I mean, there are peripheral things I do, I do photography, I write plays, I have books published, but that's neither here… — Lou Reed Copy Share Image
I cannot think of a greater blessing than to die in one's own bed, without warning or discomfort, on the last page… — John Russell, 1st Earl Russell Copy Share Image
