When I was writing the first few books, what I would do is write a bunch of sentences and then go back… — William T. Vollmann Copy Share Image
Glenn used to say the reason you can't really imagine yourself being dead was that as soon as you say, 'I'll be… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
Who on earth is going to use 'utilize' in a text message, a whopping seven characters including the always-hard-to-type 'z,' when you… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
For if it is not lawful to take the law into our own hands and slay even a guilty person, whose death… — Saint Augustine Copy Share Image
There is a slovenly disrespect for truth and reality that has infected and cross-infected the arts; the values of entertainment are relentlessly… — Rachel Cusk Copy Share Image
And how deeply do I let business considerations affect [screenwriting] choices that might otherwise be more or less esthetic? . . .… — Edward Zwick Copy Share Image
Peoples do not judge in the same way as courts of law; they do not hand down sentences, they throw thunderbolts; they… — Maximilien Robespierre Copy Share Image
I think the written word is probably the best medium of communication because you have time to reflect, you have time to… — Richard Dawkins Copy Share Image
He gave a small nod, and I smiled back, and that was it. He understood that I'd understood that he'd understood. It… — Laurell K. Hamilton Copy Share Image
If I think back on the books to which I have devoted my entire life, I am most surprised by those moments… — Orhan Pamuk Copy Share Image
I write different kinds of sentences, depending on what the book is, and what the project is. I see my work evolving.… — Paul Auster Copy Share Image
Being a parent is a life sentence. You see, that's why normal people should not have children because if you raise a… — Christopher Titus Copy Share Image
To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words. Whoever writes English is… — George Orwell Copy Share Image
all that paddling around in the alphabet soup of one's childhood, scooping up letters, hoping to arrange them into enlightening sentences that… — Sue Monk Kidd Copy Share Image
But the poetry side is what appeals more to me today. Metaphor, just absurd linkages and coming up with categories, labeling, taxonomy,… — Richard Meltzer Copy Share Image
I want to fall in love with beautiful women of all races. Rescue somebody every now and then, improve my painting, and… — William T. Vollmann Copy Share Image
I would say that the writers I like and trust have at the base of their prose something called the English sentence.… — Martin Amis Copy Share Image
It's impossible to be the Mockingjay. Impossible to complete even this one sentence. Because now I know that everything I say will… — Suzanne Collins Copy Share Image
There's a reason that students don't grade their own papers. There's a reason defendants don't sentence themselves. And there's the reason the… — Trey Gowdy Copy Share Image
I usually do at least a dozen drafts and progressively make more-conscious decisions. Because I've always believed stories are closer to poems… — Ron Rash Copy Share Image
Essayists must not only be succinct but have original ideas and, even harder to come by, or to fake, likable voices. Consciously… — Cyra McFadden Copy Share Image
That would be a glorious life, to addict oneself to perfection; to follow the curve of the sentence wherever it might lead,… — Virginia Woolf Copy Share Image
Pleasantries are low entropy, biased so far that they stop being an earnest inquiry and become ritual. Ritual has its virtues, of… — Brian Christian Copy Share Image
Another reason I think the novel will survive is that the reader has to work in a novel. In a film, you… — John Fowles Copy Share Image
Who isn't crazy sometimes? Who hasn't driven around a block hoping a certain person will come out; who hasn't haunted a certain… — Jess Walter Copy Share Image
We've always been here and we'll always be here. We are a specific arrangement of particles and this instant is infinite. Did… — Jeffrey Rowland Copy Share Image
President Obama has reduced the sentences of 22 federal prisoners who were arrested for drug-related crimes - eight of whom were serving… — Jimmy Fallon Copy Share Image
You can talk about a caption underneath a photograph being true or false, because there is a linguistic element. You can claim… — Errol Morris Copy Share Image
Making films can be absolutely fantastic, but it can also be incredibly dull. You spend the whole day sitting by yourself in… — Kristin Scott Thomas Copy Share Image
Milton on speed. I am going to need about a decade to think about that. That delay in syntax, the putting off… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
To understand oneself requires patience, tolerant awareness; the self is a book of many volumes which you cannot read in a day,… — Jiddu Krishnamurti Copy Share Image
If human emotions largely result from thinking, then one may appreciably control one's feelings by controlling one's thoughts - or by changing… — Albert Ellis Copy Share Image
The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader. I know people who read without hearing the sentence sounds… — Robert Frost Copy Share Image
The correct way to punctuate a sentence that states: "Of course it is none of my business, but -- " is to… — Robert A. Heinlein Copy Share Image
Lots of kids, including my son, have trouble making the leap from reading words or a few sentences in picture books to… — Rhea Perlman Copy Share Image
“Two death sentences? Really? I mean, you look very well, considering.” Crane grinned at him. “One was in absentia. One wasn’t, and… — K.J. Charles Copy Share Image
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. It is the most grievous sentence of the three, but it… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
Solely in the world of languages is the amateur of value. Well-intentioned sentences full of mistakes can still build bridges between people.… — Kató Lomb Copy Share Image
Chekhov used to correspond with aspiring writers, and once he gave this advice to Maxim Gorky when he was encouraging him to… — Catherine Brady Copy Share Image
I confess to wincing every so often at a poorly chosen word, a mangled sentence, an expression of emotion that seems indulgent… — Barack Obama Copy Share Image