When I read it ["Tough Guys Don't Dance"], I don't wince…

When I read it, I don't wince, which is all I ever ask for a book I write.

— Norman Mailer

Tough guys don't dance. You had better believe it.

— Norman Mailer

Here is all I ask of a book- give me everything. Everything, and don't leave out a single word.

— Pat Conroy

“We will never ask what a book means, as signified or signifier; we will not look for anything to understand i n i t…

— Anonymous

If you ask a living teacher a question, he will probably answer you. If you are puzzled by what he says, you can save…

— Anonymous

“I hate when people ask what a book is about. People who read for plot, people who suck out the story like the cream…

— J.R. Moehringer

It was amazing to me then, and still is, that so many people who wander into bookshops don't really know what they're after--they only…

— Mary Ann Shaffer

“Don't ask me about my book...read it. You will find what you need and what speaks to you in the depths or illusions of…

— Ina Brink

People always ask what a book is about, as if it has to be about something. I don't want to write books that lend…

— Jonathan Safran Foer

When people ask for book recommendations, I say this: Do some math. If you read one book every week for the rest of your…

— Anthony Doerr

Am I allowed to ask my book / whether it's true I wrote it?

— Pablo Neruda

To this day, if you ask me how I became a writer, I cannot give you an answer. To this day, if you ask…

— V. S. Naipaul

Some persons take reproof good-humoredly enough, unless you are so unlucky as to hit a sore place. Then they wince and writhe, and start…

— Augustus William Hare

...Baltimore. It's imperfect. Boy, is it imperfect. And there are parts of its past that make you wince. It's not all marble steps and…

— Laura Lippman

There's a certain edge about cruelty. If you're honest about it, most people wince, but say it had to be said.

— Pete Waterman