The whole joy of writing comes from the opportunity to go over it and make it good, one way or another. — James Salter Copy Share Image
I'd given up everything to be a writer, and if I didn't then go on to do that - to write -… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Normally, what you’re envious of is a book, not a writer: standards, ideas, levels … almost nonexistent things. — James Salter Copy Share Image
On the Internet, everyone is writing. There is a great flowering of writing. — James Salter Copy Share Image
I write in longhand. I am accustomed to that proximity, that feel of writing. Then I sit down and type. — James Salter Copy Share Image
Lots of scripts are written and not made, even scripts that people want to make. — James Salter Copy Share Image
I wasted time writing films. I don't look back on those years as lost, but it wasn't what I should have been… — James Salter Copy Share Image
The publishers, as I remember at the very beginning of my career, wrote letters with their fountain pens. A letter is different… — James Salter Copy Share Image
My idea of writing is of unflinching and continual effort, somehow trying to find the right words until you reach a point… — James Salter Copy Share Image
The writing is really important in books that affect me. I read for the writing. The story is usually of less interest… — James Salter Copy Share Image
You can write about other people and their ideas and life without having lived it, but even your perception of that is… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Sometimes I write with a particular person in mind. I think it's fair to say that I write for a perceptive reader.… — James Salter Copy Share Image
You would have to be very optimistic to think that any of your books will be among the books that survive in… — James Salter Copy Share Image
But that isn't my life. I have said many times I don't want to be considered one who once flew fighters. That's… — James Salter Copy Share Image
To write? Because all this is going to vanish. The only thing left will be the prose and poems, the books, what… — James Salter Copy Share Image
A writer writes a book. People read it. You don't know what they're reading, really. You read a review and think, "That… — James Salter Copy Share Image
“Gertrude Stein, when asked why she wrote, replied "For praise." Lorca said he wrote to be loved. Faulkner said a writer wrote… — James Salter Copy Share Image
The writing workshops and programs that are everywhere have encouraged writing. And if that produces more writing, it's also producing more readers… — James Salter Copy Share Image
I write down portions, maybe fragments, and perhaps an imperfect view of what Im hoping to write. Out of that, I keep… — James Salter Copy Share Image
I like to write about certain things that if they are not written about are not going to exist. — James Salter Copy Share Image
What is the ultimate impulse to write? Because all this is going to vanish. — James Salter Copy Share Image
There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream, and only those things preserved in writing have any possibility… — James Salter Copy Share Image
If you write enough, you begin to learn to do things. But in a way, you do start from zero each time. — James Salter Copy Share Image
In a certain sense, a writer is an exile, an outsider, always reporting on things, and it is part of his life… — James Salter Copy Share Image
I have said many times I don't want to be considered one who once flew fighters. That's not who I am. I… — James Salter Copy Share Image
A film writer is very much like a party girl. While you're good-looking and still unlined, the possibilities seem endless. But your… — James Salter Copy Share Image
You write for glory. You play for glory. There's an ambition to excel, isn't there, to be a star? To score more,… — James Salter Copy Share Image
It seems to me that literature is giving way a little bit to the immediacy of other diversions, other forms of entertainment. What will… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Women fall in love when they get to know you. Men are just the opposite. When they finally know you they're ready to leave — James Salter Copy Share Image
I write in longhand. I am accustomed to that proximity, that feel of writing. Then I sit down and type. — James Salter Copy Share Image
A writer writes a book. People read it. You don't know what they're reading, really. You read a review and think, "That is so… — James Salter Copy Share Image
“Strauss’s, for instance, which begins in the heavens. The artist doesn’t ascend to glory, he appears in it, he already has it and the… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Normally, what you’re envious of is a book, not a writer: standards, ideas, levels … almost nonexistent things. — James Salter Copy Share Image
Sometimes I write with a particular person in mind. I think it's fair to say that I write for a perceptive reader. You have… — James Salter Copy Share Image
Lots of scripts are written and not made, even scripts that people want to make. — James Salter Copy Share Image
I'd given up everything to be a writer, and if I didn't then go on to do that - to write - then I… — James Salter Copy Share Image
“One should not believe too easily in a life which can easily vanish.” — James Salter Copy Share Image
“Life is separated by scars, like the rings in the inside of a tree.” — James Salter Copy Share Image
