Writer Quotes · Page 372

The ways in which a book, once read, stays (and changes) in the reader's mind are unpredictable.

— Julian Barnes

“Maybe she’d ruined her brain by spending too much time reading.”

— E.M. Foner

“You’d think that, for a writer, you’d retire the same old phrase after the second use.”

— Nicole Williams

Good novels are not written, they are rewritten. Great novels are diamonds mined from layered rewrites.

— Piers Paul Read

Writing does for me what giving milk does for a cow.

— H. L. Mencken

Whether he be an original or a plagiarist, man is the novelist of himself.

— Jose Ortega y Gasset

An essay is a work of literary art which has a minimum of one anecdote and one universal idea.

— Carol Bly

It's gratifying that it does; I love to give readings.

— Ann Beattie

“To be a successful fiction writer you have to write well, write a lot … and let ‘em know you’ve written it!…

— Gerard de Marigny

The most annoying and full- of- crap thing a writer says is, I write only for myself, I don't care if anyone…

— Harlan Coben

At this point in time the war [ WWII] is close enough to still feel hotly personal to a writer, yet far…

— Chris Cleave

I was thinking one of the great things about fiction is we, as a race, only get to look out of our…

— Neil Gaiman

I think any good literature, whether it's for children or for adults, will appeal to everybody. As far as children's literature goes,…

— Amber Benson

Books, like people, can't be reduced to the cost of the materials with which they were made. Books, like people, become unique…

— Yann Martel

I don't really read too much. It really is counter to my energy. I can't sit down and concentrate on words.

— Charlie Bewley

I knew I wanted to write novels, but I could not finish what I started. The closer I got, the more ways…

— Steven Pressfield

I write by stealing time. The hours in the day have never felt as if they belonged to me. The greatest number…

— Abraham Verghese

I would never write realistic prose. I don't like people who try to write in a poetic style, but in the course…

— Marguerite Young

“Alone in the worn mahogany paneled library surrounded by hundreds of books that filled every shelf and lined every wall from floor…

— Lance Taubold

“I keep on going with this sad and hungry and sordid, this limping and mutilated story, because after all I want you…

— Margaret Atwood

“For me, reading is so much more. Books teach you how other people think, and what they're feeling, and how they change…

— Anonymous

“Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but…

— Anne Frank

“Simply complete the form, and your friend will receive the book. It will be returned to your library automatically in 14 days…

— Steve Weber

Reading good books is one distraction that will help you become a better writer. And writing - that's the thing - writing…

— Nick Petrie

Learning to read and write changes lives; it means jobs, money, health, and dreams fulfilled.

— Queen Rania of Jordan

The story you are about to read is a work of fiction. Nothing - and everything - about it is real.

— Todd Strasser

Reading isn't the opposite of doing, it's the opposite of dying.

— Will Schwalbe

'Monstress' has been hard because I want to keep writing longer, but I can't.

— Marjorie Liu

If you cut funding to libraries, you cut the lifeblood of our communities.

— Richard M. Daley

“Authors write books for one, and only one, reason: because we like to torture people.”

— Brandon Sanderson

Every Kenyan writer has offered me something to hold onto, something to believe in.

— Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

If they won't write the kind of books we like to read we shall have to write them ourselves.

— Anonymous

When you write something it has to hit the level that you accept as being good.

— Will Champion

All I ever wanted to do is to write stories that people will enjoy and feel at home with.

— Maeve Binchy

It's hard for me to write about anything personal because I get way too personal.

— Angela Alioto

I thought I'd go to a bookstore and see what moved me.

— Erik Larson

A child can have too many toys, but never enough books.

— Jarrett J. Krosoczka

While I ridicule books of self-help, I'm also quite susceptible to them. They help simplify things.

— Amitava Kumar

Writing! The activity for which the only adequate bribe is the possibility of suicide, one day.

— Joyce Carol Oates

“Any writer who puts his words and thoughts out into the public is going to be criticized.”

— Thomas Moore