Writer Quotes · Page 455

The only failure in writing is when you stop doing it. Then you fail yourself.

— Natalie Goldberg

A writer is someone who has taught his mind to misbehave.

— Oscar Wilde

What you don't read is often as important as what you do read.

— Anonymous

“The secret of being a successful writer is--write. Every writer deserves that chance.”

— Millicent Ashby

I'm a books person. Yes, I have a Kindle. I used it for an hour and a half and put it in…

— Andrew Wylie

No author dislikes to be edited as much as he dislikes not to be published.

— Russell Lynes

“When your pen runs out of ink, you can stop writing - or you can buy a new pen.”

— Nitzan Hamburg

To bring anything really to life in literature we can't be lifelike: we have to be literature-like

— Northrop Frye

Alfred Hitchcock, Isaac Newton, Elvis Presley, Captain Bligh, they're heroic or pathetic depending on which book you buy.

— Bob Seger

I write to express, not to gain. I live for honor, not for fame. I pray for goodness, not for unknown. I…

— UnKenaan

The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at…

— Vladimir Nabokov

I'm sharpest early, and though I can rewrite any time, day or night, I'm useless after noon when it comes to writing…

— Hallie Ephron

“No one has claim to originality in literature; all writers are more or less faithful amanuenses of the spirit, translators and annotators…

— James E. Irby

One of the convenient things about literature is that, despite copyrights [...] a book belongs to the reader as well as to…

— Anne Fadiman

“A novel is the final common pathway of a writer's experiences, fears, wishes, thoughts, feelings & fantasies. All is distilled in a novel.”

— Mark Rubinstein

My publisher had mailed [Bret Easton Ellis] Richard Yates. And when I talked to him he said he had read all my…

— Tao Lin

The world in books seemed so much more alive to me than anything outside. I could see things I'd never seen before.…

— Haruki Murakami

“Books are almost as individual as friends. There is no earthly use in laying down general laws about them. Some meet the…

— Theodore Roosevelt

My dad taught me that to be a writer is a decision and a habit. It's not anything lofty, and it doesn't…

— Anne Lamott

I believe that all novels, ... deal with character, and that it is to express character – not to preach doctrines, sing…

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Forever, reading has been central, the necessary fix, the support system. Her life has been informed by reading. She has read not…

— Penelope Lively

Books are just dead words on paper and it is the readers who bring the stories alive. Previously, writers wrote a book…

— Michael Scott

I've never been a very prolific person, so when creativity flows, it flows. I find myself scribbling on little notepads and pieces…

— Kurt Cobain

Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour. Do this despite fear. For above all else, beyond imagination…

— Robert McKee

Being a fiction writer makes you someone who works with irresponsibility.

— Orhan Pamuk

The story of you life has many chapters. One bad chapter does not mean that its the end to your book.

— Anonymous

“The worst book imaginable has a redeeming quality if it gets a young person to read.”

— Tiffini Johnson

I try very hard to be fair, and I look for ironies. In a way, I live on ironies as a novelist.

— Robert Stone

If you love to read, if you love nature and if you have a dog, you've got it made.

— Brooke Astor

A writer can make a fortune in America, but he can't make a living.

— James A. Michener

What's interesting about writing is the invention, the creative thing. Writing about myself is a yawn.

— Toni Morrison

When you combine something to say with the skill to say it properly, then you've got a good writer.

— Theodore Sturgeon

“Writing is a gift to both the writer and the reader.”

— Cheryl Alleway

I think many writers really believe that being published is a traumatic experience.

— Lynne Tillman

Most of my success, I feel, comes from being a good editor as opposed to a great writer.

— Tucker Max

Once your mind is caught on the right snag, there's nothing so hard about the mechanics of writing.

— Anne Tyler

Writing in certain environments carries with it an occupational risk.

— Wole Soyinka

“Book: Ten Steps to Asexuality and Financial Freedom, by Lonely Path”

— Jarod Kintz

I like to give and get basically anything (I love to read) but especially fiction and poetry.

— Suzan-Lori Parks

“...when an old person dies, a whole library disappears.”

— Simone Schwarz-Bart