Writer Quotes · Page 638

Strict rules of evidence would destroy psychoanalysis and literary criticism.

— Mason Cooley

“Most books are so well written they barely have any effect on the reader’s senses”

— Steve Aylett

To me, White Boy Shuffle is sort of like Catcher in the Rye, the story is so universal.

— Ryan Phillippe

I do love translating; it is the pure pleasure of writing without the misery of inventing.

— Nancy Mitford

“I am what is known as an omnivorous reader and it all goes right through me and out of my mouth.”

— Angela Thirkell

If you write enough, you begin to learn to do things. But in a way, you do start from zero each time.

— James Salter

It was like walking into a treasure trove of books, hoarded by pirate librarians.

— Pseudonymous Bosch

Maybe I spent more time dwelling on emotions than some people, and maybe that's why I ended up writing.

— Iris Dement

“Of course, the marvels you hoped to find might not be waiting inside the covers, so then you closed the book, sorry…

— Cornelia Funke

The three practical rules, then, which I have to offer, are, --/ Never read a book that is not a year old./…

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

For me writing isn't a mental exercise, it's barely even a literary exercise, it feels like a spiritual experience.

— Ottessa Moshfegh

A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is…

— Roald Dahl

I try to write a certain amount each day, five days a week. A rule sometimes broken is better than no rule.

— Herman Wouk

“May be its a good idea to write something about you in my book... At least then, there will be a place…

— Anamika Mishra

I believe in choosing the hardest book imaginable. I believe in reading up on what others have to say about this difficult…

— Rick Moody

I've always liked an easygoing, colloquial style. I like the kind of reviewer who is essentially a fellow reader, an enthusiast, a…

— Michael Dirda

“The great opposition to reading is what I allow to fill my time instead of reading. To say we have no time…

— James Emery White

“It is winter. Ravens are standing on a pile of bones -- black typeface on white paper picking an idea clean. It’s…

— Terry Tempest Williams

My mom taught me to read when I was two or three. When I was five I read and wrote well enough…

— Chris Abani

We do literature a real disservice if we reduce it to knowledge or to use, to a problem to be solved. If…

— Marjorie Garber

“Proponents of established norms often push rules like 'Write what you know' on new writers. In truth, everything we write is about…

— Stewart Stafford

“We're quiet then, quiet enough that I can hear the books around me creaking in their shelves, rustling their pages, stretching their…

— Katie Williams

I maintain an ongoing survey of Internet Publishing and self publishing, so that it is now possible for any writer with a…

— Piers Anthony

“What I will say is that you have to exercise your writing muscle. Write every day. Get better at it. Read a…

— Melissa de la Cruz

I wrote three stories on spec because I didn't have the patience to convince people I could write.

— Kanika Dhillon

“Books are like mirrors , you only see in them what you already have inside you”

— Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Strange, I feel as if up to now I had written no more than a few notes.

— Ludwig van Beethoven

Writing a manual forces you to place your thoughts and ideas down on paper.

— Tara VanDerveer

“Not writing is never an option. This is not words of advice. It just literally never an option!”

— Lillian R. Melendez

When I write legally, I try to write very plain, very vanilla, very clear.

— William Lashner

I divide all readers into two classes: those who read to remember and those who read to forget.

— William Lyon Phelps

And people tended not to bother a woman with a book.

— Cherie Priest

While writing a novel I almost completely stop reading books in the same sub-genre for the duration.

— Charles Stross

I was never interested in writing a 'Mommie Dearest,' getting even with Mia - none of that.

— Soon-Yi Previn

A book, unlike any other friend, will wait, not only upon the hour but upon the mood.

— Myrtle Reed

We are all continually embarking on first drafts, in every aspect of our lives.

— Jules Feiffer

Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.

— Henry David Thoreau

Any fictional story will take things from real events.

— Shoojit Sircar

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.

— Italo Calvino

I have a writer’s concentration: intense, but flickering.

— Donald McCaig