When you start to write, things begin to come into focus in a way they don't when you're not writing. It's a… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
Authorship is not a trade, it is an inspiration; authorship does not keep an office, its habitation is all out under the… — Mark Twain Copy Share Image
Write about just one thing, I have said, and there is wisdom in this advice...And yet, there is wisdom also in William… — Lucy Calkins Copy Share Image
I wrote because I could not help it. There was something that I wanted to say, and I said it: that was… — Harriet Martineau Copy Share Image
I feel as though I never had choice not to be a writer. I feel in my heart of hearts that writing… — Jerdine Nolen Copy Share Image
“To write entire pages of dazzling prose about a tomato -- for Pierre Arthens reviews food as if he were telling a… — Muriel Barbery Copy Share Image
The habits of a lifetime when everything else had to come before writing are not easily broken, even when circumstances now often… — Tillie Olsen Copy Share Image
The prosperity of a book lies in the minds of readers. Public knowledge and public taste fluctuate; and there come times when… — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
The shimmering, lucid tones and silver melancholy of I'll Be Right There give readers a South Korea peopled with citizens fighting for… — Susan Straight Copy Share Image
“In the sense, that is, that the author who created us alive no longer wished, or was no longer able, materially to… — Luigi Pirandello Copy Share Image
Philip Roth is a fabulous writer, but he pretty much stays within his own life. He's so good - I mean, practically… — Tom Wolfe Copy Share Image
Remember you love writing. It wouldn't be worth it if you didn't. If the love fades, do what you need to and… — A.L. Kennedy Copy Share Image
Take any writer you want in the 19th century: they wrote with quill pens, dipping a piece of goose feather in ink… — Walter Murch Copy Share Image
“A library of mostly unread books is far more inspiring than a library of books already read. There’s nothing more exciting than… — Gabe Habash Copy Share Image
Close reading of tough-minded writing is still the best, cheapest, and quickest method known for learning to think for yourself... Reading, and… — John Taylor Gatto Copy Share Image
“It’s tempting to see books the way we see gadgets: that we need the very latest, most up-to-date version. But just because… — Ella Berthoud & Susan Elderkin Copy Share Image
“Private libraries were extraordinary, Lady Elspeth de Moray mused. To have an entire room filled with books--- in one's own house ---… — Elizabeth Hoyt Copy Share Image
“On to the library. And all through his time at the card catalog, combing the shelves, filling out the request cards, he… — Stephen Minkin Copy Share Image
I was always furious because you couldn't take out more than three books in one day. You would go home with your… — Fay Weldon Copy Share Image
When I was a kid, I was pretty obsessed with 'The Princess and the Pea.' I'm still not sure why. Something about… — Leigh Bardugo Copy Share Image
The reason I never wrote a novel is that I don't have what it takes to write characters, so they would all… — Wim Wenders Copy Share Image
“For a girl who often felt like she lived more in the cozy world of books than in the unforgiving world of… — Pamela Paul Copy Share Image
“I no longer believe I can save people. I've tried, and I've failed, and while I'm sure there are people out there… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share Image
Those of us who can remember our childhoods will recall how ardently we relished the moment of the bedtime story, when our… — Paul Auster Copy Share Image
Electronic books are a bad thing because they cannot be accumulated on shelves to remind you of your past, to impress your… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
I believe that the main thing in beginning a novel is to feel, not that you can write it, but that it… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
I didn't do anything as active as deciding that I wanted to be a writer. For one thing, I didn't feel like… — Kelly Link Copy Share Image
In her excellent, entirely readable Richard Wright, Hazel Rowley accomplishes what [previous biographer] Michel Fabre would have liked to do with once-guarded… — Darryl Pinckney Copy Share Image
“Because a writer can't influence people, in the sense of making them think and feel and act as he does. He can… — Aldous Huxley Copy Share Image
Only in very rare circumstances will you see something cut out of my first drafts. Maybe it's because of the way I… — R. A. Salvatore Copy Share Image
There's a difference between talent and skill. You might have writing talent, but skill is learned. You have to practice. I remain… — Courtney A. Kemp Copy Share Image
Books, books, books in all their aspects, in form and spirit, their physical selves and what reading releases from their hieroglyphic pages,… — Lawrence Clark Powell Copy Share Image
The first pages of any book I remember reading, in Pinner Wood primary school, were from The Beacon Readers: stories of Farmer… — Michael Rosen Copy Share Image
When I was a child, writing was the worst possible choice of a career in my family. My father had always identified… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
I feel that whatever virtues the novel may have are very much connected with the limitations you mention. I am not writing… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
The book of the moment often has immense vogue, while the book of the age, which comes in its company from the… — Hamilton Wright Mabie Copy Share Image
What's so exciting and terrifying about the writing process is that it really is an act of exploration and discovery. With all… — Andre Dubus Copy Share Image
It was only after five years in the army, when I was having to do a very boring job in a very… — Antony Beevor Copy Share Image
“...it was my father who had taught me to love books for themselves, the smell of the vellum and paper, the rare… — Regina O'Melveny Copy Share Image
Years later he'd stood in the charred ruins of a library where blackened books lay in pools of water. Shelves tipped over.… — Cormac McCarthy Copy Share Image
![“In her excellent, entirely readable Richard Wright, Hazel Rowley accomplishes what [previous biographer] Michel Fabre would have liked to do with once-guarded letters, aging witnesses, previously unidentified girlfriends. . . . Mostly, Rowley concentrates on telling Wright's very powerful story.” quote by Darryl Pinckney](https://sms4smile.com/q/i/344/darryl-pinckney-19796_accomplish_in-her-excellent-entirely-readable-richa_1194431.png)
