A malefactor who atones for making your writing nonsense by permitting the compositor to make it unintelligible. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
“-to judge us all through the machine of the Commandant's monstrous fictions! As though they were the truth! As though history &… — Richard Flanagan Copy Share Image
There's nothing worse than sitting down to write a novel and saying, "Well, okay, I'm going to do something of high artistic… — Douglas Adams Copy Share Image
I've been making notes of my life, but when it finally came time to write it, it took me back, and I… — Mayte Garcia Copy Share Image
If I had a talent, it was for looking askew at everything, possibly more than my contemporaries. But I had to really… — David Bowie Copy Share Image
Whatever the style is, I want to have a sense that the writer is thinking, and really trying to get at something,… — Lynne Tillman Copy Share Image
People ask me, 'Why are you still writing books?' Like I'm still only writing to make money and as soon as I… — Elmore Leonard Copy Share Image
The fundamental purpose of a novel like Count Julian is to achieve the unity of object and means of representation, the fusion… — Juan Goytisolo Copy Share Image
Generally, I like to write in the morning before all the dust of dreams has blown away. Beforehand, I read two papers,… — Scott Turow Copy Share Image
“I guess you can call me "old fashioned". I prefer the book with the pages that you can actually turn. Sure, I… — Felicia Johnson Copy Share Image
“When a book lies unopened it might contain anything in the world, anything imaginable. It therefore, in that pregnant moment before opening,… — Catherynne M. Valente Copy Share Image
It seems to me that the dedication of a library is an act of faith. To bring together the resources of the… — Franklin D. Roosevelt Copy Share Image
“Every room I've lived in since I was given my own room at eleven was lined with, and usually overfull of, books.… — Jonathan Lethem Copy Share Image
I see a lot of writers who complain when their book doesn't sell and the reason that happens sometimes, is they don't… — Kevin Sampsell Copy Share Image
“Whether or not it is dangerous to read Sade is a question that easily becomes lost in a multitude of others and… — Richard Seaver Copy Share Image
There's a certain grain of stupidity that the writer of fiction can hardly do without, and this is the quality of having… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
The joy for me as a writer is that, despite the fact I spend most of my life on my own in… — Abi Morgan Copy Share Image
I find that time constraints actually make me more productive, and "real world" experiences provide a lot of inspiration to write. — Liza Campbell Copy Share Image
And books are such an empowering way to give voice to some of these kids who aren't yet ready to tell their… — Lauren Myracle Copy Share Image
Sometimes I journal three pages, sometimes I journal thirty pages, but I'm writing all the time, and whatever's happening is happening in… — Nikki Sixx Copy Share Image
I was encouraged to be imaginative and read, and it was a great childhood for a budding writer because I had the… — Sarah Waters Copy Share Image
Now the writer, I think, has the chance to live more than other people in the presence of ... reality. It is… — Virginia Woolf Copy Share Image
A novel is not a summary of its plot but a collection of instances, of luminous specific details that take us in… — Charles Baxter Copy Share Image
Writing lets you step back and think through a problem. Even the angriest rant forces the writer to achieve a degree of… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
Books are the most mannerly of companions, accessible at all times, in all moods, frankly declaring the author's mind, without offense. — Amos Bronson Alcott Copy Share Image
“Yes, I read. And yes, I do it a lot. And yes, I did it before you because life can suck and… — Kristen Ashley Copy Share Image
I'm always writing across the same themes. But with short stories, I'm doing something different than with novels. In some ways, they're… — Lynn Coady Copy Share Image
A book is good company. It is full of conversation without loquacity. It comes to your longing with full instruction, but pursues… — Henry Ward Beecher Copy Share Image
Fiction challenges us and works its miracles by placing us in the skin of another human being and teaching us empathy. — Hugh Howey Copy Share Image
“I let my thoughts bare little feet ramble on the narrow cobblestone alleys, hoping they find their way out of the petite… — Bhuwan Thapaliya Copy Share Image
“At any rate, where books are concerned, it is notoriously difficult to fix labels of merit in such a way that they… — Virginia Woolf Copy Share Image
A piece of writing is only worth doing if you're a different person at the end of the process than you were… — Brian Morton Copy Share Image
“You think an essay should have a hypothesis, a conclusion, should argue points. You really do bore me.” — Carole Maso Copy Share Image
No, there is literally nothing on the business side that I wouldn't sacrifice in a heartbeat to have an extra couple of… — J. K. Rowling Copy Share Image
I have the exact opposite problem of every writer I've ever met: Every writer I've ever met writes things that are too… — Fran Lebowitz Copy Share Image
“The author says one character's definition of a classic is any book he'd heard of before he was thirty.” — Sinclair Lewis Copy Share Image
My greatest wish — other than salvation — was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One I… — Yann Martel Copy Share Image
American Gods is about 200,000 words long, and I'm sure there are words that are simply in there 'cause I like them.… — Neil Gaiman Copy Share Image
I write, or used to write, to explain to myself situations I couldn't otherwise solve or understand. Meditation comes very naturally to… — Anne Stevenson Copy Share Image
“For years I have been coming to this library, and I explore it volume by volume, shelf by shelf, but I could… — Italo Calvino Copy Share Image
![“When a book lies unopened it might contain anything in the world, anything imaginable. It therefore, in that pregnant moment before opening, contains everything. Every possibility, both perfect and putrid. Surely such mysteries are the most enticing things...grant[ed] us in this mortal…” quote by Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adc/catherynne-m-valente-375_books_when-a-book-lies-unopened-it-might-conta_451058.png)
