--- title: "10 Writing Small Quotes by 10 authors" description: "Browse 10 Writing Small quotes by 10 authors. Discover the best Writing Small sayings and thoughts." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59f/teju-cole-2851_activity_not-explicitly-no-compared-to-this-enorm_1317712.png" --- > [Not explicitly, no. Compared to this enormous, relentless evolutionary activity in the built environment, writing is small potatoes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/not-explicitly-no-compared-to-this-enormous-relentless-evolutionary/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59f/teju-cole-2851_activity_not-explicitly-no-compared-to-this-enorm_1317712.png) > [I began like all composers, writing for small groups. Chamber groups.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-del-tredici/i-began-like-all-composers-writing-for-small-groups-chamber-groups/) [David Del Tredici](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-del-tredici/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a69/david-del-tredici-58152_chamber_i-began-like-all-composers-writing-for-s_799049.jpg) > [I would perhaps like to go back to writing small books about obscure people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-tomalin/i-would-perhaps-like-to-go-back-to-writing-small-books-about-obscure/) [Claire Tomalin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-tomalin/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6e/claire-tomalin-8837_about_i-would-perhaps-like-to-go-back-to-writi_703148.jpg) > [I quite like being removed from the industry stuff so that when we're not on tour and we're writing, we're in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-mayberry/i-quite-like-being-removed-from-the-industry-stuff-so-that-when-we-re/) [Lauren Mayberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-mayberry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54e/lauren-mayberry-3504_aspect_i-quite-like-being-removed-from-the-indu_1281025.jpg) > [I don't think of writing my poems for China or for the world. I mainly think of a small audience of friends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bei-dao/i-don-t-think-of-writing-my-poems-for-china-or-for-the-world-i-mainly/) [Bei Dao](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bei-dao/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d62/bei-dao-38500_able_i-don-t-think-of-writing-my-poems-for-ch_1977468.png) > [I think especially in academia, we are coached to go the route of paying to submit our writing to small publications, like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-land/i-think-especially-in-academia-we-are-coached-to-go-the-route-of/) [Stephanie Land](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-land/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce0/stephanie-land-5532_academia_i-think-especially-in-academia-we-are-co_1352805.jpg) > [I discovered a long time ago that writing of the small things of the day, the trivial matters of the heart, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/i-discovered-a-long-time-ago-that-writing-of-the-small-things-of-the/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/e-b-white-1448_accomplish_i-discovered-a-long-time-ago-that-writin_1535675.jpg) > [“The conclusion to be drawn is that I am happiest writing in small rooms. They make me feel comfortable and secure. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-steel/the-conclusion-to-be-drawn-is-that-i-am-happiest-writing-in-small/) [Danielle Steel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-steel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e36/danielle-steel-1674_writing_the-conclusion-to-be-drawn-is-that-i-am_1089558.jpg) > [I think what happens is you write how you grew up. And I was born on the prairie, and so everything is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-maclachlan/i-think-what-happens-is-you-write-how-you-grew-up-and-i-was-born-on/) [Patricia MacLachlan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-maclachlan/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/972/patricia-maclachlan-14887_born_i-think-what-happens-is-you-write-how-yo_906113.jpg) > [“Q: Where and when do you do your writing? A: Any small room with no natural light will do. As for when,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/q-where-and-when-do-you-do-your-writing-a-any-small-room-with-no/) [Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/zadie-smith-584_afternoons_q-where-and-when-do-you-do-your-writing_1967963.png) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-small/#itemlist", "name": "Writing Small Quotes", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Not explicitly, no. Compared to this enormous, relentless evolutionary activity in the built environment, writing is small potatoes.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Teju Cole" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/not-explicitly-no-compared-to-this-enormous-relentless-evolutionary/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59f/teju-cole-2851_activity_not-explicitly-no-compared-to-this-enorm_1317712.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59f/teju-cole-2851_activity_not-explicitly-no-compared-to-this-enorm_1317712.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59f/teju-cole-2851_activity_not-explicitly-no-compared-to-this-enorm_1317712.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Not explicitly, no. Compared to this enormous, relentless evolutionary activity in the built environment…” — Teju Cole", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I began like all composers, writing for small groups. Chamber groups.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Del Tredici" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-del-tredici/i-began-like-all-composers-writing-for-small-groups-chamber-groups/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a69/david-del-tredici-58152_chamber_i-began-like-all-composers-writing-for-s_799049.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a69/david-del-tredici-58152_chamber_i-began-like-all-composers-writing-for-s_799049.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a69/david-del-tredici-58152_chamber_i-began-like-all-composers-writing-for-s_799049.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I began like all composers, writing for small groups. Chamber groups.” — David Del Tredici", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I would perhaps like to go back to writing small books about obscure people.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Claire Tomalin" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-tomalin/i-would-perhaps-like-to-go-back-to-writing-small-books-about-obscure/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6e/claire-tomalin-8837_about_i-would-perhaps-like-to-go-back-to-writi_703148.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6e/claire-tomalin-8837_about_i-would-perhaps-like-to-go-back-to-writi_703148.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6e/claire-tomalin-8837_about_i-would-perhaps-like-to-go-back-to-writi_703148.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I would perhaps like to go back to writing small books about obscure people.” — Claire Tomalin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I quite like being removed from the industry stuff so that when we're not on tour and we're writing, we're in a small room and you can't get out physically. I like that mental checking-out aspect - I think it's quite nice.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lauren Mayberry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-mayberry/i-quite-like-being-removed-from-the-industry-stuff-so-that-when-we-re/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54e/lauren-mayberry-3504_aspect_i-quite-like-being-removed-from-the-indu_1281025.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54e/lauren-mayberry-3504_aspect_i-quite-like-being-removed-from-the-indu_1281025.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54e/lauren-mayberry-3504_aspect_i-quite-like-being-removed-from-the-indu_1281025.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I quite like being removed from the industry stuff so that when we're not on tour and we're writing, we're…” — Lauren Mayberry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I don't think of writing my poems for China or for the world. I mainly think of a small audience of friends and people I know. I am writing for that small group. They are not necessarily going to be able to read it, but that's what I have in mind when I write.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bei Dao" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bei-dao/i-don-t-think-of-writing-my-poems-for-china-or-for-the-world-i-mainly/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d62/bei-dao-38500_able_i-don-t-think-of-writing-my-poems-for-ch_1977468.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d62/bei-dao-38500_able_i-don-t-think-of-writing-my-poems-for-ch_1977468.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d62/bei-dao-38500_able_i-don-t-think-of-writing-my-poems-for-ch_1977468.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I don't think of writing my poems for China or for the world. I mainly think of a small audience of friends…” — Bei Dao", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think especially in academia, we are coached to go the route of paying to submit our writing to small publications, like the presses and the quarterly reviews and all of these that are considered 'prestigious.' As a writer in a college program, that's the route that you're taught to go.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephanie Land" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-land/i-think-especially-in-academia-we-are-coached-to-go-the-route-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce0/stephanie-land-5532_academia_i-think-especially-in-academia-we-are-co_1352805.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce0/stephanie-land-5532_academia_i-think-especially-in-academia-we-are-co_1352805.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce0/stephanie-land-5532_academia_i-think-especially-in-academia-we-are-co_1352805.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think especially in academia, we are coached to go the route of paying to submit our writing to small…” — Stephanie Land", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I discovered a long time ago that writing of the small things of the day, the trivial matters of the heart, the inconsequential but near things of this living, was the only kind of creative work which I could accomplish with any sincerity or grace. As a reporter, I was a flop, because I always came back laden not with facts about the case, but with a mind full of the little difficulties and amusements I had encountered in my travels.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "E. B. White" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/i-discovered-a-long-time-ago-that-writing-of-the-small-things-of-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/e-b-white-1448_accomplish_i-discovered-a-long-time-ago-that-writin_1535675.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/e-b-white-1448_accomplish_i-discovered-a-long-time-ago-that-writin_1535675.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/e-b-white-1448_accomplish_i-discovered-a-long-time-ago-that-writin_1535675.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I discovered a long time ago that writing of the small things of the day, the trivial matters of the heart…” — E. B. White", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The conclusion to be drawn is that I am happiest writing in small rooms. They make me feel comfortable and secure. And it took me years to figure out that I need to write in a corner. Like a small animal burrowing into its hole, I shift furniture around, and back myself into a cozy corner, with my back to the wall … and then I can write.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Danielle Steel" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-steel/the-conclusion-to-be-drawn-is-that-i-am-happiest-writing-in-small/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e36/danielle-steel-1674_writing_the-conclusion-to-be-drawn-is-that-i-am_1089558.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e36/danielle-steel-1674_writing_the-conclusion-to-be-drawn-is-that-i-am_1089558.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e36/danielle-steel-1674_writing_the-conclusion-to-be-drawn-is-that-i-am_1089558.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The conclusion to be drawn is that I am happiest writing in small rooms. They make me feel comfortable and…” — Danielle Steel", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think what happens is you write how you grew up. And I was born on the prairie, and so everything is kind of spare on the prairie. And so I'm just used to writing in that way. 'Sarah, Plain and Tall' was that way. And most of my fiction is. I like writing small pieces. Somehow it just suits me.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Patricia MacLachlan" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-maclachlan/i-think-what-happens-is-you-write-how-you-grew-up-and-i-was-born-on/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/972/patricia-maclachlan-14887_born_i-think-what-happens-is-you-write-how-yo_906113.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/972/patricia-maclachlan-14887_born_i-think-what-happens-is-you-write-how-yo_906113.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/972/patricia-maclachlan-14887_born_i-think-what-happens-is-you-write-how-yo_906113.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think what happens is you write how you grew up. And I was born on the prairie, and so everything is kind…” — Patricia MacLachlan", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Q: Where and when do you do your writing? A: Any small room with no natural light will do. As for when, I have no particular schedules... afternoons are best, but I'm too lethargic for any real regime. When I'm in the flow of something I can do a regular 9 to 5; when I don't know where I'm going with an idea, I'm lucky if I do two hours of productive work. There is nothing more off-putting to a would-be novelist to hear about how so-and-so wakes up at four in the a.m, walks the dog, drinks three liters of black coffee and then writes 3,000 words a day, or that some other asshole only works half an hour every two weeks, does fifty press-ups and stands on his head before and after the \"creative moment.\" I remember reading that kind of stuff in profiles like this and becoming convinced everything I was doing was wrong. What's the American phrase? If it ain't broke...”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Zadie Smith" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/q-where-and-when-do-you-do-your-writing-a-any-small-room-with-no/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/zadie-smith-584_afternoons_q-where-and-when-do-you-do-your-writing_1967963.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/zadie-smith-584_afternoons_q-where-and-when-do-you-do-your-writing_1967963.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/zadie-smith-584_afternoons_q-where-and-when-do-you-do-your-writing_1967963.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Q: Where and when do you do your writing? A: Any small room with no natural light will do. As for when, I…” — Zadie Smith", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-small/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-small/", "name": "Writing Small Quotes", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-small/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59f/teju-cole-2851_activity_not-explicitly-no-compared-to-this-enorm_1317712.png" }, "description": "Browse 10 Writing Small quotes by 10 authors. 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