Essayists Quote by Alan Lightman

I do admire great essayists. I'm a particular fan of good nature writing. People like Robert Finch. I read great quantities of writing by…

— Roger Zelazny

I read very widely, both non-fiction and fiction, so I don't think there's a single writer who influences me.

— Peter Benchley

As for the writers who have influenced me they are many. Hemingway, Chandler, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, William Goldman, Flannery O'Conner, Carson…

— Joe R. Lansdale

Since childhood, I wrote a lot of fiction, a lot of stories, but I most loved writing essays.

— Jill Lepore

I'm a writer who likes to be influenced.

— Kenneth Koch

There is more to be pondered in the grain and texture of life than traditional fiction allows. The work of essayists is vital precisely…

— Charles J. Shields

I was never academically driven in English, but, again, Tom Waits is a perfect example of an influence. He writes so immaculately and paints…

— Hozier

In effect I am not a novelist, but rather a failed essayist who started to write novels because he didn't know how to write…

— Jose Saramago

John Dos Passos, Raymond Carver, Flaubert and William Maxwell were all very influential when I first started writing. Now, the writers I'm most interested…

— Jonathan Dee

I'm influenced by Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace: writers who are often not content to just stack paragraphs and have to break…

— Jesse Andrews

I enjoy being influenced by other writers.

— Steve Toltz

I read pretty eclectically - fiction, non-fiction, and poetry - and I've been inspired and influenced by a number of writers.

— Barry Eisler