Writer Quotes · Page 245

I feel that the world needs writers. We need to know what's really going on.

— Anne Roiphe

We rarely know where we are going; writing is a discovery.

— Robert McKee

“She who is a dancer can only sway the silk of her hair like the summer breeze.”

— Shah Asad Rizvi

I choose this story above all others because it's a story I'm struggling to end.

— Jeanette Winterson

“She needed the chaos within her in order to discover the extraordinary no man could ever reach.”

— robert m drake

My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter.

— Tom Helm

I used to write things out beforehand. But sometimes it backfires

— Todd Barry

“You know what? Forget the warning. Read the book. Go insane. See if I care.”

— Jonathan L. Howard

I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first…

— James A. Michener

A reviewer's lot is not always an easy one. I can remember flogging myself to finish Harold Brodkey's 'The Runaway Soul' despite…

— Michael Dirda

“What I didn’t realize was how many doors the act of writing unlocks, as if my Dad’s old fountain pen wasn’t really…

— Stephen King

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is a breezy, big-hearted treat, especially if you've ever wondered about the inner workings of…

— Jami Attenberg

I wouldn't write anything autobiographical. If you've lived a life like Laurence of Arabia, it might be a consideration, but otherwise it's…

— James Lee Burke

There is no doubt that I have lots of words inside me; but at moments, like rush-hour traffic at the mouth of…

— John Updike

“There was going to be a spot for me in this joint, the earth, after all. It was never going to be…

— Anne Lamott

'Taxi Driver' wasn't autobiographical in terms of the actual events, but I did draw on my own mental state.

— Paul Schrader

"It’s not as if I don’t have anything to read; there’s a tower of perfectly good unread books next to my bed,…

— Lewis Buzbee

“There would seem to be four stages in the composition of a story. First comes the germ of the story, then a…

— Malcolm Cowley

The important task of literature is to free man, not to censor him, and that is why Puritanism was the most destructive…

— Anais Nin

There’s only one difference between published and unpublished writers, and it is this -- the first group see their work in print…

— Kate Mosse

“So I recommend reading literature, such as the inspiring biography of Anwar Sadat, In Search of Identity, and seeing movies like Chariots…

— Stephen R. Covey

I do have a little bit more confidence in - or at least familiarity with - my process. For example, when it…

— Sara Zarr

I always carry a notepad with me, even on vacation. If I'm on the computer when the story 'hits', I open a…

— Franny Armstrong

“Just as breathing exercises help integrate body and mind, writing is a kind of psycho-neural muscular activity which helps bridge and integrate…

— Stephen R. Covey

Writing is not a competitive sport. Everyone that writes has his or her own voice.

— Raymond E. Feist

As writers become more numerous, it is natural for readers to become more indolent.

— Oliver Goldsmith

“What can a man read in a library of cannibals? Bloody books bound by bones in tissues’ paper.”

— Stephan Attia

You can't be a serious writer of fiction unless you believe the story you are telling.

— Norman Mailer

Now, if, as I think, writing should be, it's a kind of risky trade.

— Al Alvarez

Never read a book to the end, nor even in sequence and without skipping.

— Fernando Pessoa

Your vacation depends upon the book that tells you where to go, and it is called your cheque book.

— Vikrant Parsai

I like to read away as much of the afternoon as possible, until real life rears its ugly head.

— Anne Lamott

Don't read what everyone else is reading. Check them out later, cautiously.

— Ben Okri

I always thought it would be so much fun to write a book.

— Julie Foudy

I became a reader - never mind a writer - because of Stephen King.

— Paul G. Tremblay

The most important things in our intimate lives can't be discussed with strangers, except in books.

— Edmund White

“Profitable bookstores sell books. Unprofitable book sellers store books.”

— Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“The fact is that each writer creates his own precursors.”

— jorge luis borges

When I'm working on one book, part of my imagination is thinking ahead to the next one.

— Alastair Reynolds

As a writer of colour, you have to be victim or perpetrator.

— Marlon James