--- title: "10 Write Quotes By Lorrie Moore" description: "10 Write quotes by Lorrie Moore. Plus more from Lorrie Moore and more Write sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3a/lorrie-moore-870_advice_the-only-really-good-piece-of-advice-i-h_1498140.jpg" --- > [The only really good piece of advice I have for my students is, 'Write something you'd never show your mother or father.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/the-only-really-good-piece-of-advice-i-have-for-my-students-is-write/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3a/lorrie-moore-870_advice_the-only-really-good-piece-of-advice-i-h_1498140.jpg) > [I think women do write politically all the time. Margaret Atwood does; Doris Lessing does.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-think-women-do-write-politically-all-the-time-margaret-atwood-does/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/463/lorrie-moore-870_does_i-think-women-do-write-politically-all-t_1356369.png) > [I don't sit down to write a funny story. Every single thing I sit down to write is meant to be sad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-don-t-sit-down-to-write-a-funny-story-every-single-thing-i-sit-down/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4f5/lorrie-moore-870_down_i-don-t-sit-down-to-write-a-funny-story_189590.png) > [I do have people in mind when I write. I don't know precisely who they are, however, or how many of them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-do-have-people-in-mind-when-i-write-i-don-t-know-precisely-who-they/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d8/lorrie-moore-870_knows_i-do-have-people-in-mind-when-i-write-i_1637374.png) > [I'm a little harsh. When people say, 'I have writers block. What do you suggest?' I say, 'If you can't write, don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-m-a-little-harsh-when-people-say-i-have-writers-block-what-do-you/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/28e/lorrie-moore-870_block_i-m-a-little-harsh-when-people-say-i-hav_2282514.png) > [I've been falsely accused of drawing too much from real life. But I am a petty thief - I take little things.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-ve-been-falsely-accused-of-drawing-too-much-from-real-life-but-i-am/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f7/lorrie-moore-870_accused_i-ve-been-falsely-accused-of-drawing-too_1874152.png) > [I don’t go back and look at my early work, because the last time I did, many years ago, it left me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-don-t-go-back-and-look-at-my-early-work-because-the-last-time-i-did/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8de/lorrie-moore-870_creating_i-don-t-go-back-and-look-at-my-early-wor_3102620.png) > [Begin to wonder what you do write about. Or if you have anything to say. Or even if there is such a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/begin-to-wonder-what-you-do-write-about-or-if-you-have-anything-to/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/394/lorrie-moore-870_limits_begin-to-wonder-what-you-do-write-about_2402339.png) > [What do I do when writing isn't going well? Well, I don't write - which is symptom, cure, and cause. And then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/what-do-i-do-when-writing-isn-t-going-well-well-i-don-t-write-which/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/663/lorrie-moore-870_causes_what-do-i-do-when-writing-isn-t-going-we_2433514.jpg) > [Perhaps one would be wise when young even to avoid thinking of oneself as a writer - for there's something a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/perhaps-one-would-be-wise-when-young-even-to-avoid-thinking-of/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09b/lorrie-moore-870_activity_perhaps-one-would-be-wise-when-young-eve_2613147.jpg) ## Other authors on Write ## More by Lorrie Moore > [But I believed in starting over. There was finally, I knew, only rupture and hurt and falling short between all persons, but, Shirley, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/but-i-believed-in-starting-over-there-was-finally-i-knew-only-rupture/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [I'm very interested in what people will do for money. Money: it's timeless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-m-very-interested-in-what-people-will-do-for-money-money-it-s/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“One of the problems with people in Chicago, she remembered, was that they were never lonely at the same time. Their sadness occurred in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/one-of-the-problems-with-people-in-chicago-she-remembered-was-that/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“If you had forgotten, it would quickly come back to you. Aloneness was like riding a bike. At gunpoint. With the gun in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/if-you-had-forgotten-it-would-quickly-come-back-to-you-aloneness-was/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [Once love had seemed like magic. Now it seemed like tricks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/once-love-had-seemed-like-magic-now-it-seemed-like-tricks/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“Observing others go through them, he used to admire midlife crises, the courage and shamelessness and existential daring of them, but after he'd watched…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/observing-others-go-through-them-he-used-to-admire-midlife-crises-the/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [Start dating someone who is funny, someone who has what in high school you called a "really great sense of humor" and what now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/start-dating-someone-who-is-funny-someone-who-has-what-in-high-school/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [You are unhappy because you believe in such a thing as happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/you-are-unhappy-because-you-believe-in-such-a-thing-as-happy/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“Amber was not shy. If she had been shy, not one of us would be at Perkins right now.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/amber-was-not-shy-if-she-had-been-shy-not-one-of-us-would-be-at/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [People will do anything, anything, for a really nice laugh,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/people-will-do-anything-anything-for-a-really-nice-laugh/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“Farmers aren't rich. They have land but no money." Actually, my father didn't even have that much land. He had once stood on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/farmers-aren-t-rich-they-have-land-but-no-money-actually-my-father/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“My grandmother, who, when I visited, stared at me with the staggering, arrogant stare of the dying, the wise vapidity of the already gone;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/my-grandmother-who-when-i-visited-stared-at-me-with-the-staggering/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [I count too heavily on birthdays, though I know I shouldn't. Inevitably I begin to assess my life by them, figure out how I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-count-too-heavily-on-birthdays-though-i-know-i-shouldn-t-inevitably/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“Life is sad. Here is someone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/life-is-sad-here-is-someone/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [I had never feared insomnia before--like prison, wouldn't it just give you more time to read?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-had-never-feared-insomnia-before-like-prison-wouldn-t-it-just-give/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/lorrie-moore/#itemlist", "name": "10 Write Quotes By Lorrie Moore", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The only really good piece of advice I have for my students is, 'Write something you'd never show your mother or father. And you know what they say? 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I'm running away to an invented place.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lorrie Moore" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-ve-been-falsely-accused-of-drawing-too-much-from-real-life-but-i-am/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f7/lorrie-moore-870_accused_i-ve-been-falsely-accused-of-drawing-too_1874152.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f7/lorrie-moore-870_accused_i-ve-been-falsely-accused-of-drawing-too_1874152.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f7/lorrie-moore-870_accused_i-ve-been-falsely-accused-of-drawing-too_1874152.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I've been falsely accused of drawing too much from real life. 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If one publishes, then one is creating a public record of Learning to Write.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lorrie Moore" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-don-t-go-back-and-look-at-my-early-work-because-the-last-time-i-did/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8de/lorrie-moore-870_creating_i-don-t-go-back-and-look-at-my-early-wor_3102620.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8de/lorrie-moore-870_creating_i-don-t-go-back-and-look-at-my-early-wor_3102620.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8de/lorrie-moore-870_creating_i-don-t-go-back-and-look-at-my-early-wor_3102620.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I don’t go back and look at my early work, because the last time I did, many years ago, it left me cringing…” — Lorrie Moore", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Begin to wonder what you do write about. Or if you have anything to say. Or even if there is such a thing as a thing to say. Limit these thoughts to no more than ten minutes a day; like sit-ups, they can make you thin", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lorrie Moore" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/begin-to-wonder-what-you-do-write-about-or-if-you-have-anything-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/394/lorrie-moore-870_limits_begin-to-wonder-what-you-do-write-about_2402339.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/394/lorrie-moore-870_limits_begin-to-wonder-what-you-do-write-about_2402339.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/394/lorrie-moore-870_limits_begin-to-wonder-what-you-do-write-about_2402339.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Begin to wonder what you do write about. Or if you have anything to say. 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And…” — Lorrie Moore", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Perhaps one would be wise when young even to avoid thinking of oneself as a writer - for there's something a little stopped and satisfied, too healthy, in that. Better to think of writing, of what one does as an activity, rather than an identity - to write, I write; we write; to keep the calling a verb rather than a noun; to keep working at the thing, at all hours, in all places, so that your life does not become a pose, a pornography of wishing.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lorrie Moore" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/perhaps-one-would-be-wise-when-young-even-to-avoid-thinking-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09b/lorrie-moore-870_activity_perhaps-one-would-be-wise-when-young-eve_2613147.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09b/lorrie-moore-870_activity_perhaps-one-would-be-wise-when-young-eve_2613147.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09b/lorrie-moore-870_activity_perhaps-one-would-be-wise-when-young-eve_2613147.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Perhaps one would be wise when young even to avoid thinking of oneself as a writer - for there's something a…” — Lorrie Moore", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/lorrie-moore/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/lorrie-moore/", "name": "Write Quotes by Lorrie Moore", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/lorrie-moore/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3a/lorrie-moore-870_advice_the-only-really-good-piece-of-advice-i-h_1498140.jpg" }, "description": "10 Write quotes by Lorrie Moore. Plus more from Lorrie Moore and more Write sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/lorrie-moore/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/lorrie-moore/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Write", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Lorrie Moore", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/lorrie-moore/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```