Writing Quotes · Page 503

Writing is a lonely way of life. You shut yourself up in your study and work and work.

— Philip K. Dick

Above all else, tragedy requires the finest appreciation by the writer of cause and effect.

— Arthur Miller

Every good writer has much idiom; it is the life and spirit of language.

— Walter Savage Landor

Often it doesn't occur to you what kind of novel you're writing until quite late on.

— Martin Amis

“Wait a second, is a snooty book critic actually admitting to judging books by their covers?”

— Larry Correia

Writing is like sewing together what I call these 'buttons,' these bits and pieces.

— Sandra Cisneros

Every time I make American film I just trust American directors and American writers.

— Jackie Chan

A writer must experiment with genres. Otherwise, it is a restriction on the craft.

— Ravi Subramanian

The prose poem Walk The Red Road is great stuff and deserves to be read aloud. It compares quite favorably to The…

— Brian Aldiss

Any doctor will admit that any drug can have side effects, and that writing a prescription involves weighing the potential benefits against…

— Mark Udall

Writing is like sex. The more you think about it, the harder it is to do. It's better not to think about…

— Stephen King

It is very tough to make a short film. It's like writing a short story, which is tougher than writing a novel.…

— Naseeruddin Shah

Nonfiction writers are the packhorses of literature. We're meant to carry the story. If we can make it up and down the…

— Stacy Schiff

I don't lead a writer's life. And I think that can be a source of suspicion and irritation to some people.

— Joan Didion

I have so many books to write now. So I'll write from home. Sometimes I'm writing in the office too, in my…

— Gerard Way

The essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is…

— E. B. White

The thing that always interests me from a storytelling point of view is how that moment of trauma, whatever the trauma is,…

— Steven Bochco

A publisher friend of mine suggested that I write a book about my grandfather, who had just died. I had nothing else…

— Kevin Macdonald

“What do you want more than anything else in the world? What do you love, or what do you hate? Find a…

— Ray Bradbury

[T]he scripture worshippers put the writings ahead of God. Instead of interpreting God's actions in nature, for example, they interpret nature in…

— Sheri S. Tepper

I'm not interested in safety. A great risk in writing is imagining you have something to protect. Playing it safe to placate…

— Lynne Tillman

There really are two different schools of songwriting-American and Canadian. It's interesting. You guys have this history of guys like Paul Williams…

— Fred Eaglesmith

“the surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite, and concrete. The greatest writers—Homer,…

— Robert W. Bly

One thing about humans is that we all have them - lifestories. We live by and through them. But writers of memoir…

— Lidia Yuknavitch

There are so many rules about play writing. I'd have a nervous breakdown if I followed them.

— Terrence McNally

All writers are waiting for replies. That’s what I’ve learned. Maybe all human beings are

— Niall Williams

Writing ... is a profession that can only be learned by writing.

— Simone de Beauvoir

Iran should write us a letter of thank you for taking Mosul.

— Donald Trump

Some of the best fiction writers got their start writing airline menus.

— Erma Bombeck

To write a story, I think you really have to open yourself up to the world.

— Ann Brashares

I started out with three creative jobs - painter, janitor and gag writer.

— William Hanna

Ordering a man to write a poem is like commanding a pregnant woman to give birth to a red-headed child.

— Carl Sandburg

I started writing seriously when I was about 12. I am always in the mood.

— Stephen King

Writers are magpies, and we collect details about people and we use them for fictional characters.

— Caroline Leavitt

The Local Paper here asked that me books be banned…THE HIGHEST PRAISE for an Irish writer.

— Ken Bruen

I really enjoy writing novels. Its like the ocean. You can just build a boat and take off.

— Denis Johnson

What is generally missed, is that my writing financed research.

— L. Ron Hubbard

“We shared a passion for words, but I preferred the silence of writing while she loved to talk. She”

— Viet Thanh Nguyen

I've heard from writers and musicians and fans that they think I'm underrated.

— Rick Springfield

Daily life is always extraordinary when rendered precisely.

— Bonnie Friedman