Simply put: writing is rewriting.

Donald Trump has been rewriting the rules since he got into politics.

— Christopher Michael Cillizza

The book really comes to life in the rewriting.

— Philip Roth

The elevator shaft was a kind of heat sink. Hot food was cold by the time it arrived. Cold food got colder. No one…

— Terry Pratchett

Rewriting is a large part of the whole job. And get rid of stuff that's not working. Just pare it down until it's a…

— Kurt Loder

“Writing is rewriting.”

— Alan Winter

“Growing up like rewriting is simply admitting how clueless you were not so long ago.”

— Scott Westerfeld

Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn't work, throw it away. It's a nice feeling, and you don't want to be cluttered with…

— Helen Dunmore

Tim Conway was a little different from the rest. He was always in the back of the studio building something with the prop man,…

— Vicki Lawrence

'A Fair Maiden' existed in notes and sketches for perhaps a year. When I traveled, I would take along with me my folder of…

— Joyce Carol Oates

On the one occasion where I did try writing a screenplay, I found the rewriting just unendurable.

— Alan Moore

Writing in journalism teaches you to be very comfortable taking criticism, being edited, and rewriting.

— Neil Drumming

I don't do much rewriting, because each paragraph is very carefully put together.

— Jayne Anne Phillips

The biggest difference between a writer and a would-be writer is their attitude toward rewriting. . . . Unwillingness to revise usually signals an amateur.

— Sol Stein

Rewriting is the essence of writing well - where the game is won or lost.

— William Zinsser

When I need the idea, I can find it immediately. I have a horror of rewriting or deleting; the parts of my composition are…

— Ruggero Leoncavallo