The shelf was filled with books that were hard to read, that could devastate and remake one's soul, and that, when they… — Mark Helprin Copy Share Image
“A writer should show the silver in his hands neither as bronze nor as gold; the gist of the matter is to… — Mehmet Murat ildan Copy Share Image
Every face, every shop, bedroom window, public-house, and dark square is a picture feverishly turned--in search of what? It is the same… — Virginia Woolf Copy Share Image
I think people dismiss celebrity memoirs as unreal, contrived and maybe partially made up. But that's definitely not true for anything that… — Hilary Liftin Copy Share Image
“We live and breathe words. (...) It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could… — Cassandra Clare Copy Share Image
“My hunger for writing will die when I have bled for the humans that never found the strength to find the words… — Christopher Poindexter Copy Share Image
An SF author who reads only SF will have little new to contribute, but someone with a broader experience will bring more… — Walter Jon Williams Copy Share Image
I like to have interesting things to write about. And when one says something is 'interesting,' one almost always means 'bad.' — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
'Catholic writer' seems like you have an agenda of evangelization, as if you were somehow influenced in your choice of perspective by… — Mary Gordon Copy Share Image
With paper printed books, you have certain freedoms. You can acquire the book anonymously by paying cash, which is the way I… — Richard Stallman Copy Share Image
Had my credentials been in order I would never have become a writer. Had I been blessed with even limited access to… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
I think writing really helps you heal yourself. I think if you write long enough, you will be a healthy person. That… — Alice Walker Copy Share Image
Yes, but another writer I read in high school who just knocked me out was Theodore Dreiser. I read An American Tragedy… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
I'm not a writer myself, so I'm forced to try to get what's a sort of an odour or a colour or… — Sydney Pollack Copy Share Image
“Lastly, notice your level of enthusiasm. If you had to decide right now how enthusiastic you are about being a writer, on… — Beth Barany Copy Share Image
“I bleed words. I dream in narrative. I live in infinite worlds. I befriend figmental characters. I wish on stars in other… — Richelle E. Goodrich Copy Share Image
The writing is the most important bit, and performing it is just closing the circle because I'm less likely to screw it… — John Cleese Copy Share Image
“reading all kinds of books, in whatever format you choose -- electronic or printed or audio -- is the grandest entertainment, and… — Will Schwalbe Copy Share Image
I don't want to write formula. I don't want to crank these books out like sausages. Every book is different, which takes… — Sue Grafton Copy Share Image
Whenever I am doing anything else, which is most of the time, even if it is not something like robbing a bank,… — Fran Lebowitz Copy Share Image
Wonderful thing about novels is that sometimes we read a novel and we know the person in the novel more than we… — Edwidge Danticat Copy Share Image
On the whole, I don't like reading long books. I'm not a fan of 'Ulysses.' And I haven't quite finished 'War and… — Vikram Seth Copy Share Image
When people talk about the death of the novel, they are speaking of the need for the birth of something different. — Mohsin Hamid Copy Share Image
One of the best things about writing is how it redeems, not to mention recycles, all of one's prior experiences, including or… — Lois McMaster Bujold Copy Share Image
It's easier to write about a place sometimes when you've left it, when you can apply your imagination to your memory and… — John Dufresne Copy Share Image
The clerisy are those who read for pleasure, but not for idleness; who read for pastime but not to kill time; who… — Robertson Davies Copy Share Image
Un auteur ga" te tout quand il veut trop bien faire. An author spoils everything when he wants too much to do… — Jean de La Fontaine Copy Share Image
Because I've heard so many stories that I don't know which one is the most popular. But I do know which is… — Jay Asher Copy Share Image
“Write like you are the last person on earth; like no one will ever read your story. Tell the story YOU want… — Giuseppe Bianco Copy Share Image
“At least in a book I am away from my body for a while. But I want to do things, not just… — Jackie French Copy Share Image
We have to have genius creative thoughts precisely four times a year and on exact dates. I actually write them on my… — Tom Ford Copy Share Image
There are some writers who also enjoy being authors, and are good at it as well. There is nothing performative about writing,… — Hanya Yanagihara Copy Share Image
“Be yourself and your readers will follow you anywhere. Try to commit an act of writing and they will jump overboard to… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
A few books, well studied, and thoroughly digested, nourish the understanding more than hundreds but gargled in the mouth, as ordinary students… — Frances Osborne Copy Share Image
Books aren't written - they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh… — Michael Crichton Copy Share Image
Of all the things that make for happiness, the love of books comes first. No matter how the world may have used… — Myrtle Reed Copy Share Image
Moreover, a book is not made of sentences laid end to end, but of sentences built, if an image helps, into arcades… — Virginia Woolf Copy Share Image
I believe the book should be something you protect yourself from by returning to your life. But it has threatened your life.… — Tony Burgess Copy Share Image
No it is not easy to write. It is as hard as breaking rocks. Sparks and splinters fly like shattered steel. — Clarice Lispector Copy Share Image
Reading usually precedes writing. And the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what… — Susan Sontag Copy Share Image
