Why do the lives of writers seem so... train-wrecky?

Everyone's always telling themselves stories about their lives, writers or not.

— Sheila Heti

Few things in life seem more sexy than a banned book.

— Chuck Palahniuk

I think poetry always lives its life, and people come to it and people go away from it, 'people' in the sense of larger…

— C. K. Williams

In barely one generation, we've moved from exulting in the time-saving devices that have so expanded our lives to trying to get away from…

— Pico Iyer

Nobody thinks mystery writers go around killing people, but they always seem to assume singers are singing about themselves, especially if you write melancholy…

— Del Shannon

Writers do draw inspiration from their own lives, which, quite frankly, might be more interesting than fiction.

— Monica Johnson

Many writers tend to write summing-up books at the end of their lives.

— V. S. Naipaul

The problem men seem to have, and women, too, is that they have this very structured idea that we should find a partner and…

— Felicity Kendal

Don't be intimidated by people who seem to be experts. Hear their points of view and get their judgements. But at the end of…

— Robert Dallek

The idea of building a Near Eastern house in Honolulu must seem fantastic to many.

— Doris Duke

We put suffocation warnings on all the - on every piece of plastic film manufactured in the United States or for sale with an…

— Gever Tulley

In my journey as a cartoonist, I seem to have accidentally stumbled into all sorts of traps, damnations and blacklists.

— Michael Leunig

I was painfully shy, so my aunt suggested to my mum that me and my brother go to Stage 84, a performing arts school…

— Christian Cooke

I think I need the demons in order to write, but the demons have gone. It bothers me a lot. I've tried and tried,…

— Brian Wilson

Having small children and being an investigative reporter would seem like a difficult mix, but it worked well for me. I was often working…

— Jill Abramson