Great literature is like moral leadership; everyone deplores the lack of it, but there is a tendency to prefer it from the… — Shirley Hazzard Copy Share Image
This country's crazy in terms of fame and what people think it means. They expect a writer to be something between a… — Kent Haruf Copy Share Image
You can't write something actively trying to please everyone - you're going to end up with watery soup that way. You just… — Kelly Sue DeConnick Copy Share Image
Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don't worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
The fierce and partial writers of the times, ascribing all virtue to themselves, and imputing all guilt to their adversaries, have painted… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
I am firmly convinced that the ideal combination leading to a happy life is to have the time to both fish and… — Brian Murphy Copy Share Image
“There's the life you live and the life you leave behind. But what you share with someone else - especially someone you… — Brad Meltzer Copy Share Image
Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me, From mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom. — William Shakespeare Copy Share Image
“Sad Things Why do you write sad things? he asked. When I am here, when I love you. Because someday , in… — Lang Leav Copy Share Image
Books and newspapers assume a "common reader" that is, a person who knows the things known by other literate persons in the… — Edward Hirsch Copy Share Image
“V.S. Pritchett's definition of a short story is 'something glimpsed from the corner of the eye, in passing.' Notice the 'glimpse' part… — Raymond Carver Copy Share Image
“He always told them the same thing, to begin with. ‘Try to avoid falseness and strain. Write what you really know about.… — A.S. Byatt Copy Share Image
Everybody should read fiction… I don’t think serious fiction is written for a few people. I think we live in a stupid… — Percival Everett Copy Share Image
“In an infinite universe, all things are possible -- within physical limits, that is -- and any book that can be written… — Rand Miller Copy Share Image
I was rather a poor student, too easily distracted - did a lot of gazing out of windows, fine for training to… — Michael Morpurgo Copy Share Image
I would never require anyone to read any book. That seems antithetical to why we read - which is to choose a… — Amy Tan Copy Share Image
I'm not one of those true writers who can't bear not to be writing. Yet it's one of the most important things… — Robyn Davidson Copy Share Image
More than periods where I don't write anything, I have periods where I just write junk and I know I'm writing junk… — Jonathan Dee Copy Share Image
I enjoy the process of writing. The torment comes in getting my bottom on the chair and in front of the typewriter. — Caryl Rivers Copy Share Image
I spent seven years writing The Free World. There are a lot of things I accomplished there that I'm very proud of,… — David Bezmozgis Copy Share Image
The gift of literature is that, in some lucky cases, reading a novel or a story makes the reader more curious, more… — Amos Oz Copy Share Image
Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
“I'm sorry I don't have brilliant reasons for beginning a novel. As you go along, you make up reasons to do what… — Natalie Goldberg Copy Share Image
You have to know human behaviour … And the quality of your writing is absolutely capped at your understanding of human behaviour.… — Tony Gilroy Copy Share Image
I think my sensibility is very literary; all my books were built as books, and I wasn't thinking about them being movies. — Bret Easton Ellis Copy Share Image
There is no better feeling than when you write something you know is a piece of you and that, at some point,… — Alanis Morissette Copy Share Image
“That made sense of gabby meetings: salient points isolated from the gush of acoustic froth. This paper belonged on a clipboard, not… — Iain Sinclair Copy Share Image
Writing is a form of talking, although writing is such an odd thing in and of itself. People go about it in… — Errol Morris Copy Share Image
Your vivid, exciting companionship in the office must not be your audience, you must find your own quiet center of life, and… — Willa Cather Copy Share Image
“A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit,… — Henry Miller Copy Share Image
The actual materials are important... A book at the nightstand is important-a light you can get at-or a flashlight as Kerouac had… — Allen Ginsberg Copy Share Image
In this time of the Internet and nonfiction, to be on an actual bookshelf in an actual bookstore is exciting in itself. — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
“It’s important to put aside your internal editor and just get words down on the page when working on a first draft.” — S.J. Scott Copy Share Image
“How do those people who don't read books plug the gaps in their day? The journeys, the break-times, the evenings when the… — Robert Craig Copy Share Image
In my early twenties, that's when I really began to write. Before that, I was too busy working, keeping myself going. — Paula Fox Copy Share Image
Do not address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone.… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
I'm always reading. And I keep a whole list of stories, often unusual stories. There are a hundred some-odd ideas on that… — Joshuah Bearman Copy Share Image
There were two free public libraries within walking distance of my home; I remember taking six books home from every visit, the… — Martin Lewis Perl Copy Share Image
Fiction may be, whatever else, an exercise in the capacity for imaginative love, or sympathy, or identification, — Marilynne Robinson Copy Share Image
You should write, write, write every day, and learn to edit and pare it right back so you're proud of every sentence,… — Caitlin Moran Copy Share Image
