I have read my books by many lights, hoarding their beauty, their wit or wisdom against the dark days when I would… — Louis L'Amour Copy Share Image
The problem is once you've written the opening paragraph and worked out how the rest of the story will go in your… — Colm Toibin Copy Share Image
Do not write if there is no tremendous urge to do so. At the heart, there must be an inspiration or muse… — Vikram Seth Copy Share Image
There is a sort of homely truth and naturalness in some books which is very rare to find, and yet looks cheap… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“I have a pesky little critic in the back of my mind. He's a permanent fixture and passes judgment on everything I… — Rukhsana Khan Copy Share Image
A lot of people who want to see the short story have a renaissance of readership - they tend to think of… — Lorin Stein Copy Share Image
We [fiction writers] are much more of a maze than we are a motorway. Things are always in flux, they're always in… — Jeanette Winterson Copy Share Image
There's many things that I am. And all of those things come together at some point. If somebody wants to limit me,… — Walter Mosley Copy Share Image
A writer soon discovers he has no single identity but lives the lives of all the people he creates and his weathers… — Carson McCullers Copy Share Image
Literature is love. I think it went like this: drawings in the cave, sounds in the cave, songs in the cave, songs… — Eileen Myles Copy Share Image
Because I have conducted my own operas and love sheep-dogs; because I generally dress in tweeds, and sometimes, at winter afternoon concerts,… — Ethel Smyth Copy Share Image
“Books are a social substitute; you read people who, at one level, you'd like to hang out with. [David Foster Wallace]'s writing… — David Lipsky Copy Share Image
You have read very good books, I am sure; there is an excellent book however, that never grows old; it is the… — Peter Julian Eymard Copy Share Image
It's hard work, writing, you know. Honestly, a fight every day against your own limitations. You have to squeeze books out of… — Carlos Ruiz Zafon Copy Share Image
You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go… — Ernest Hemingway Copy Share Image
I will not be quoting Hemingway anytime soon, nor will I ever read another one of his books. And if he were… — Matthew Quick Copy Share Image
Full of fun, over-the-top characters and witty prose, with a touch of gay romance that is equally pleasing to straight readers. The… — Rhys Bowen Copy Share Image
“[I]n adult literary fiction, stories are there on sufferance. Other things are felt to be more important: technique, style, literary knowingness. Adult… — Philip Pullman Copy Share Image
Our libraries are valuable centers of education, learning and enrichment for people of all ages. In recent years, libraries have taken on… — Jodi Rell Copy Share Image
“The way you start writing is by writing. Over and over again I have proven this to myself but I always forget… — Ellen Gilchrist Copy Share Image
I don't know but a book in a man's brain is better off than a book bound in calf--at any rate it… — Herman Melville Copy Share Image
Each time I write a book, every time I face that yellow pad, the challenge is so great. I have written eleven… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down… — Virginia Woolf Copy Share Image
“The library is not a shrine for the worship of books. It is not a temple where literary incense must be burned… — Norman Cousins Copy Share Image
“I "love" reading. It makes me feel like I am swallowing up Christ, Homer, Confucius, Newton, Franklin, Socrates, Caesar, and the whole… — Moffat Machingura Copy Share Image
“To write is to carve a new path through the terrain of the imagination, or to point out new features on a… — Rebecca Solnit Copy Share Image
An English journalist called Michael Viney told me when I was 25, that I would write well if I cared a lot… — Maeve Binchy Copy Share Image
If this advertisement be not sufficient, I can only protrude my wormlike tendrils of apology, craving forbearance on the grounds that a… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
Nobody tells young writers it's okay if you're not very good, you'll get better. So I just thought I'm not very good,… — Bonnie Jo Campbell Copy Share Image
“...[S]ometimes in writing of myself ... I have occasionally had the exquisite thrill of putting my finger on a little capsule of… — E.B. White Copy Share Image
But I also believe there is enormous value in the piece of writing that goes no further than the one person for… — Betsy Lerner Copy Share Image
I have always felt that books help me feel less alone in the world. They make our lives bigger - they help… — Lisa Lucas Copy Share Image
In my first 15 or 20 years of authorship, I was almost never asked to give a speech or an interview. The… — John Updike Copy Share Image
I'm not so sure that I can teach people how to, you know, write dialogue or create plot or anything like that.… — Colum McCann Copy Share Image
“rate your projects more objectively. Try it out: Whenever you have invested a lot of time and effort into something, stand back… — Rolf Dobelli Copy Share Image
“Guess what Jeff found in his cabin for me," Grete says, "another book by the Martian Chronicle guy." "Ray Bradburrow", Jeff says.… — Gillian Flynn Copy Share Image
What is enthralling and illuminating about The Metaphysical Club is its portraits of individuals and their milieus. Menand is wonderfully deft at… — George Scialabba Copy Share Image
“She asserted that the best fictional detail was a chosen detail, not a remembered one - for fictional truth was not only… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Reading is one of the main things I do. Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel I accomplished something, became a better… — Nora Ephron Copy Share Image
I've now learned how to do it, I can write anywhere. I'm the type of person that will get a random idea… — Alessia Cara Copy Share Image
![“We [fiction writers] are much more of a maze than we are a motorway. Things are always in flux, they're always in movement, they're always twisting back on each other. I think the straight line is such a lie.” quote by Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/435/jeanette-winterson-166_fiction_we-fiction-writers-are-much-more-of-a-ma_1638493.png)
![“Books are a social substitute; you read people who, at one level, you'd like to hang out with. [David Foster Wallace]'s writing self--it's most pronounced in his essays--was the best friend you'd ever have, spotting everything, whispering jokes, sweeping you past what was irritating or boring or…” quote by David Lipsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4f4/david-lipsky-30389_best-friend_books-are-a-social-substitute-you-read-p_2172757.jpg)
![“[I]n adult literary fiction, stories are there on sufferance. Other things are felt to be more important: technique, style, literary knowingness. Adult readers who do deal in straightforward stories find themselves sidelined into a genre such as crime or science fiction, where no one expects…” quote by Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a7/philip-pullman-525_books_i-n-adult-literary-fiction-stories-are-t_1804165.jpg)
![“...[S]ometimes in writing of myself ... I have occasionally had the exquisite thrill of putting my finger on a little capsule of truth, and heard it give the faint squeak of mortality under my pressure, an antic sound.” quote by E.B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/31d/e-b-white-2-8829_adventure_s-ometimes-in-writing-of-myself-i-have-o_2176612.jpg)
