Writer Quotes · Page 293

A novel is not just a work of art: It is somehow a work of life as well.

— George P Elliott

“An insightful book possesses the ability to speak to you”

— I.R. Shankar

I enjoy writing. Would I rather be playing golf? No. Would I rather be fishing? No.

— Melvyn Bragg

Dear, I can't write, it's all a fantasy: a kind of circling obsession.

— Philip Larkin

I have written two medical novels. I have never studied medicine, never seen an operation

— Taylor Caldwell

Fiction is experimentation; when it ceases to be that, it ceases to be fiction.

— John Cheever

A successful self-publisher must fill three roles: Author, Publisher, and Entrepreneur—or APE.

— Guy Kawasaki

Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright.

— Aaron Sorkin

I had read too many memoirs that were written after the writer or the director was past his or her prime.

— Joe Eszterhas

Given my age, I am pretty near the end, probably, of my career as a writer, a scholar, a teacher. And I…

— George Steiner

I am a super-confident writer, and as a joke writer and as an actress, I'm like, 'I want to go head-to-head with…

— Mindy Kaling

“then to write this book. Jobs surprised me by readily acknowledging that he would have no control over it or even the…

— Walter Isaacson

“Your case gives me new hope," I said to him. "With me, more and more often I happen to pick up a…

— Italo Calvino

All novels attempt to cut neural routes through the brain, to convince us that down this road the true future of the…

— Zadie Smith

“When we write with power and authenticity, it opens the door to our hearts and invites others in. When we're brave, we…

— Lynda Cheldelin Fell

A certain luxury when you get to writing a novel is to have the space to have your characters just banter.

— David Benioff

I could easily go through all my books and mark the ones that were original, mark the ones that were adapted or…

— Max Lucado

“I write so others might contemplate things that are out of the ordinary. I write to make people feel—to cause laughter and…

— Richelle E. Goodrich

“It seems important to me that beginning writers ponder this—that since 1964, I have never had a book, story or poem rejected…

— Joseph Hansen

Learning to decipher words had only added to the pleasures of holding spines and turning pages, measuring the journey to the end…

— John Crowley

THE ABULON DANCE is an intricate and fast-paced novel of political intrigue and clashing alien cultures. The characterizations are rich, detailed, and…

— Robin Wayne Bailey

“I have a few friends who still moan that paper is the only way to read a book, but I’d rather have…

— Terry Schott

Like speaks to like only; labor to labor, philosophy to philosophy, criticism to criticism, poetry to poetry. Literature speaks how much still…

— Henry David Thoreau

Some people think I am an issue-oriented writer, but I've never said to myself, I'm gong to write about such-and-such an issue…

— Suzan-Lori Parks

“Writers of historical fiction would be lost without libraries and archives.”

— Ruta Sepetys

Readers transform a library from a mausoleum into many theaters.

— Mason Cooley

“A poor attempt at writing is better than no attempt at all.”

— Ksenia Anske

Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper.

— John Steinbeck

My wife and I sometimes read books together. It's kind of like bed talk.

— Taboo

If you can make music with someone you don't need words. If you wish to be a writer, write.

— Epictetus

I don't write for children. I write and someone says it's for children.

— Maurice Sendak

“A great book is one, which really don’t finish when it finishes.”

— Aman Jassal

For me, writing is such an escape, and I felt very lucky to have this to run away to.

— Rachel Joyce

The way I write possibly shouldn't be turned on serious things.

— Giles Coren

The novelist's intuition for the sacred differs from the translator's interrogation of the sacred.

— Cynthia Ozick

“What makes you think a writer isn't a drug salesman?”

— Kurt Vonnegut Jr

I suppose half of writing is overcoming the revulsion you feel when you sit down to it.

— Flannery O'Connor

One book calls to another unexpectedly, creating alliances across different cultures and centuries.

— Alberto Manguel

“On those trains you’ll be taking across Europe. A book light always comes in handy.”

— Meg Cabot

bad literature of the sort called amusing is spiritual gin.

— George Eliot