--- title: "3 Publishing Quotes By Donald E. Westlake" description: "3 Publishing quotes by Donald E. Westlake. Plus more from Donald E. Westlake and more Publishing sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d4d/donald-e-westlake-4285_ideas_if-it-weren-t-for-received-ideas-the-pub_1425717.jpg" --- > [If it weren't for received ideas, the publishing industry wouldn't have any ideas at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/if-it-weren-t-for-received-ideas-the-publishing-industry-wouldn-t/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d4d/donald-e-westlake-4285_ideas_if-it-weren-t-for-received-ideas-the-pub_1425717.jpg) > [Publishing is the only industry I can think of where most of the employees spend most of their time stating with great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/publishing-is-the-only-industry-i-can-think-of-where-most-of-the/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c2/donald-e-westlake-4285_assurance_publishing-is-the-only-industry-i-can-th_2256540.jpg) > [All of the changes in publishing since 1960 are significant. There are far fewer publishers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/all-of-the-changes-in-publishing-since-1960-are-significant-there-are/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01c/donald-e-westlake-4285_1960s_all-of-the-changes-in-publishing-since-1_3194511.jpg) ## Other authors on Publishing - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b021/author-sara-sheridan-83140.jpg) Sara Sheridan 15 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publishing/sara-sheridan/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b014/author-julian-assange-54221.jpg) Julian Assange 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publishing/julian-assange/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-margaret-atwood-63354.jpg) Margaret Atwood 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publishing/margaret-atwood/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-clay-shirky-24527.jpg) Clay Shirky 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publishing/clay-shirky/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-tucker-max-92401.jpg) Tucker Max 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publishing/tucker-max/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b017/author-matt-mullenweg-65470.jpg) Matt Mullenweg 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publishing/matt-mullenweg/) - [Israelmore Ayivor 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publishing/israelmore-ayivor/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-deborah-smith-28387.jpg) Deborah Smith 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publishing/deborah-smith/) ## More by Donald E. Westlake > [Science fiction is a weird category, because it's the only area of fiction I can think of where the story is not of primary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/science-fiction-is-a-weird-category-because-it-s-the-only-area-of/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [The other thing that I got back then - the Parker novels have never had much of anything to do with race. There have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/the-other-thing-that-i-got-back-then-the-parker-novels-have-never-had/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [I was writing everything. I grew up in Albany, New York, and I was never any farther west than Syracuse, and I wrote Westerns.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/i-was-writing-everything-i-grew-up-in-albany-new-york-and-i-was-never/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [New York doesn't exactly have neighborhoods, the way most cities do. What it has is closer to distinct and separate villages, some of them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/new-york-doesn-t-exactly-have-neighborhoods-the-way-most-cities-do/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“In the cab going downtown, Doug believed he now understood the sensations felt by a person slowly sinking into the grasp of an octopus.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/in-the-cab-going-downtown-doug-believed-he-now-understood-the/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [What did Jesus Christ say to the Teamsters? 'Do nothing till I get back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/what-did-jesus-christ-say-to-the-teamsters-do-nothing-till-i-get-back/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“Since he’d been born rich into a family that had been a long time rich, he’d never known the need to suppress his feelings,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/since-he-d-been-born-rich-into-a-family-that-had-been-a-long-time/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“Well, you might not think it to look at me,” Dortmunder told him, “but I got a family crest.” “Have you?” “Yeah. And it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/well-you-might-not-think-it-to-look-at-me-dortmunder-told-him-but-i/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“telling the jokes—was the setups. Why were that priest, that rabbi, and that minister walking down that street? Where were they headed? How had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/telling-the-jokes-was-the-setups-why-were-that-priest-that-rabbi-and/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“Dortmunder followed Kelp as he carried the tray down along the bar past the regulars, where the third was now saying, “The idea of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/dortmunder-followed-kelp-as-he-carried-the-tray-down-along-the-bar/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [Nothing about it interested me. Or about anything else, except making up stories. If literacy weren't so nearly universal, God knows what I'd be.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/nothing-about-it-interested-me-or-about-anything-else-except-making/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [When Stark isn't off sulking somewhere, or whatever he's doing when he won't return my calls, I alternate between the two. That usually works…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/when-stark-isn-t-off-sulking-somewhere-or-whatever-he-s-doing-when-he/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“There are no Territories to light out for, not in this century. It was no longer easy to become the new you. New or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/there-are-no-territories-to-light-out-for-not-in-this-century-it-was/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“wish you would.” “Right. When I had the emerald again, I was in a cell. I guess they were afraid the rest of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/wish-you-would-right-when-i-had-the-emerald-again-i-was-in-a-cell-i/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [Seem to be telling this, but really telling that. Three-dimensional writing, like three-dimensional chess. Nabokov was the other master of that. You could learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/seem-to-be-telling-this-but-really-telling-that-three-dimensional/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publishing/donald-e-westlake/#itemlist", "name": "3 Publishing Quotes By Donald E. Westlake", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If it weren't for received ideas, the publishing industry wouldn't have any ideas at all.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Donald E. 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