Writing Quotes · Page 468

I made a startling discovery. Time spent writing = output of work. Amazing.

— Ann Patchett

The secret of play-writing can be given in two maxims: stick to the point, and, whenever you can, cut.

— W. Somerset Maugham

Only write to me, write to me, I love to see the hop and skip and sudden starts of your ink.

— Anonymous

You don't write for actors. Actors come for characters you've made up.

— William Monahan

My first and biggest love was always fiction writing. But it is a very lonely pastime.

— Etgar Keret

All writers are mimics, and I'm not interested in picking up somebody else's style or voice.

— Thomas Perry

I felt like a number of things in me as a writer just clicked.

— Daniel Woodrell

There's always room for a story that can transport people to another place.

— Anonymous

I can't speak for other artists; every group has a different approach. For us, it will always be important to keep working…

— RM

Knut Hamsun's writing is magical. His sentences are glowing; he could write about anything and make it alive. Of contemporary writers, Thure…

— Karl Ove Knausgard

I wanted to do - there was this film called 'Magic' that Anthony Hopkins did. And the director wanted me. The writer…

— Gene Wilder

I am a better person when I am writing, and I am probably a better mother because I can focus all that…

— MacKenzie Scott

Young writers should read books past bedtime and write things down in notebooks when they are supposed to be doing something else.

— Anonymous

When you write, you're supposed to go stand somewhere else for a while, see things from a perspective that's not in line…

— Catherine Brady

One of the problems we have as writers is we don't take ourselves seriously while writing; being serious is setting aside a…

— Maya Angelou

“Write about us,” Robinson urged. “Tell our story.” And I did it; I told our story. You hold it in your hands.”

— James Patterson

I used to want to be a war photographer, and I used to want to be a ballerina and a comedian. I…

— Cat Power

“It would be better to give up the notion of writing until you are better prepared. Now it's time to be living.…

— Sherwood Anderson

Recollect that to a woman who gets her living by her pen, 'time is money,' as it is to an artist. Therefore,…

— Eliza Leslie

As Muslims, we must have an active presence based on ethical and moral consistency. We need to be very vocal, to inform…

— Tariq Ramadan

It is a great paradox and a great injustice that writers write because we fear death and want to leave something indestructible…

— Ariel Gore

I approach song writing three different ways. One way is where I write the initial melody and lyrics first and then take…

— Manika

Your gonna have fun staying with us. He paused with something more to say, but didn't seem like he knew how to.…

— Jade

I don't think I knew that you could be a novelist. I think a lot of my students are in the same…

— Rachel Cusk

Writing a poem is unwriting a knot, like untying a shoelace that is clubbing your foot.

— Shirley Geok-lin Lim

I go through my tweets while writing and be like, 'Oh, this has staying power and is still relevant.'

— Jaboukie Young-White

I should have written books instead of reading them.

— Alan Lightman

I have so little control over the act of writing that it's all I can do to remain conscious.

— David Rakoff

Inspiration does not always precede the act of writing; it often follows it.

— Madeleine L'Engle

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

— Anonymous

It's not my brain that's writing the book, it's these hands of mine.

— Madeleine L'Engle

I would not send a first story anywhere. I would give myself time to write a number of stories.

— Jhumpa Lahiri

The very best thing you can do is to try to write a song that has some sort of impact.

— Dar Williams

God, I'm such a lazy writer - I can't even think up new names.

— Dennis Potter

I can't write when it's silent. But the music can't have lyrics.

— Marie Lu

I'm probably one of the few authors in this country who could very comfortably live off my writing.

— Ravi Subramanian

“So what if I fall? I know I will never fall as hard as i fell for you.”

— Timothy Joshua

I get so used to working with writers that my prime occupation is development.

— Ridley Scott

“A life well-lived or a life lived well? The placement of words really does change the connotation.”

— Carol Morgan

When I write a book, I'm making it the best book I can.

— Thomas Perry