Writing Quotes · Page 539

Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present.

— Proverb

I have never felt inhibited in trying to write as well as the greatest English poets.

— Derek Walcott

Writing ... is practically the only activity a person can do that is not competitive.

— Paul Theroux

The appeal of writing a romance was that I'd never written one before the The Thorn and The Blossom.

— Theodora Goss

For after my marriage I had made various attempts to write fiction. They were clearly failures.

— Mary Augusta Ward

Updike was the first to take the penile sensorium under the wing of elaborate metaphorical prose.

— Nicholson Baker

Money writes books, money sells them. Give me not righteousness, O Lord, give me money, only money.

— George Orwell

The more consistently Austrian School an economist is, the better a writer he will be.

— Murray Rothbard

A writer can't subtract or excise any of his/her past because doing so would erase the work produced during that time.

— Joyce Carol Oates

“Books in the YA genre, in particular, should use proper grammar because they're more of an example to young people than adults…

— Laura Kreitzer

I just start writing, and in the process, one hopefully comes up with ideas and solutions and explores all the little nooks…

— Alastair Reynolds

Every well-written book is a light for me. When you write, you use other writers and their books as guides in the…

— Kate DiCamillo

“When I grow up, I am going to write for children — and grownups that haven't grown up too much — all…

— Opal Whiteley

“As I quietly stare off into space, eyes glazed over and brow thoughtfully taut, know that I am going about my business.…

— Richelle E. Goodrich

Everything I'm doing musically is for its own sake. I'm recording at my house, trying really hard to write songs with a…

— Bucky Pope

You can recognize in your own reading habits what writers are doing that works and what doesn't. I'm becoming much more aware…

— Dan Chaon

I didn't want to write unless I could say, and think for myself. I looked to peers that I not only respected…

— Karen Walton

At times I have a beat first and then I write. Sometimes I have a melody in my head and I pick…

— Nneka

To write a good song, an artist has to drawn from reality. There has to be some spark from realism that communicates…

— Daryl Hall

“Every woman should have a daughter to tell her stories to. Otherwise, the lessons learned are as useless as spare buttons from…

— Karen White

I like when they say a movie is inspired by a true story. That's kind of silly. "Hey, Mitch, did you hear…

— Mitch Hedberg

I guess to long story short it, I was really just working day jobs when I moved to New York and trying…

— Randy Rainbow

I write songs. Then I record them. And later, maybe I perform them on stage. That's what I do. That's my job.…

— Van Morrison

Most of the really good songs are dead true. ... It had to have happened to have the song be there. Every…

— Guy Clark

In Hollywood, writers are considered only the first draft of human beings.

— Frank Deford

I definitely don't aspire to writing that's 'timeless,' whatever that means.

— Sally Rooney

“A true writer cuts their heart open and bleeds all over the page...”

— Cynthia Batten

I never really wanted to be a singer - not with any longevity. But I always wanted to be a writer.

— Patti Smith

Good writing will bring you to places you don't even expect sometimes.

— James Gandolfini

“I'm not a very good writer. But I'm a HELLUVA re-writer.”

— Laini Giles

I like writing, but I write for self-improvement more than I do for money.

— Thomas Steinbeck

There are infinite shades of grey. Writing often appears so black and white.

— Rebecca Solnit

I write first for myself as a therapeutic process, to get stuff out and to deal with it.

— Lucinda Williams

I know I am eventually going to want to write or produce.

— Erika Christensen

Yet, it is true, poetry is delicious; the best prose is that which is most full of poetry.

— Virginia Woolf

I never wanted to be mainstream as a writer, but look at what's happened.

— Anne Enright

Some scientists use TeX or LatEX but for most people Word is the thing that writers use these days.

— Miguel de Icaza

A sports expert is the guy who writes the best alibis for being wrong

— Jimmy Cannon

Writing 'Dog Stars' was coming home. My spirit just sang. It's what I wanted to do my whole life.

— Peter Heller

An author values a compliment even when it comes from a source of doubtful competency.

— Mark Twain