Novelist Quotes

365 Novelist quotes by 274 unique authors

Miss Austen had shown the infinite possibilities of ordinary and present things for the novelist. — George Saintsbury
The novelist now usurps the chair of the educator, the pulpit of the preacher, the columns of the journalist. Yet his original purpose of entertaining… — Philip Wylie
But here's the thing: what you do as a screenwriter is you sell your copyright. As a novelist, as a poet, as a playwright, you… — Beth Henley
As a novelist, I ask of myself only that I tell the truth and that I tell it beautifully. — Taiye Selasi
A novelist is an elephant, but an elephant who must pretend to forget. — Mary McCarthy
I never met anybody in my life who says, I want to be a critic. People want to be a fireman, poet, novelist. — Leslie Fiedler
Political thriller? International thriller? Financial thriller? Whatever you call it, The Ascendant is smart, edgy, fast-paced storytelling at its best. Its unlikely hero, Garrett Reilly,… — Alafair Burke
I’ve always thought a novelist only has one character and that is himself or herself. — John Gregory Dunne
I’d like to be remembered as someone who used their ability as a novelist or as a dramatist to say the things he felt needed… — Budd Schulberg
Listening is crucial for any novelist. Stories & ideas abound. We too often talk about ourselves & block out the richness others may offer. — Mark Rubinstein
The Novelist, afraid his ideas may be foolish, slyly puts them in the mouth of some other fool and reserves the right to disavow them. — Diane Johnson
The difference between a novelist and someone who tinkers around with writing is this: novelists finish their books. — Unknown Author
By the respectable terms of the modern literary profession, novelists do not preach. And, in fact, there has probably not been a less respectable novelist… — Unknown Author
I met, not long ago, a young man who aspired to become a novelist. Knowing that I was in the profession, he asked me to… — Aldous Huxley
I'm a failed poet. Maybe every novelist wants to write poetry first, finds he can't and then tries the short story which is the most… — William Faulkner
I must say a few words about memory. It is full of holes. If you were to lay it out upon a table, it would… — David Ebershoff
When I'm writing a novel, I'm dealing with a double life. I live in the present at the same time that I live in the… — John Phillips
Brings [O'Brian's] achievement to a new height....Such is O'Brian's power to possess the imagination that I found I was living in his world as much… — Alan Judd
Show me a novelist – or, indeed, a reader – who wasn’t a socially awkward, self-conscious adolescent, prone to clumsiness and excessive reading and I’ll…… — Unknown Author
Ashton Ford will come as something of a surprise to those of you who have been with me over the years. This is not the… — Don Pendleton
For a novelist, the gaps in a story are as intriguing as material that still exists. — Sara Sheridan
As an historical novelist – there are few jobs more retrospective. — Sara Sheridan
We live in an age in which the imagination of the novelist is helpless against what he knows he is going to read in tomorrow's… — Philip Roth
The detective story itself is in a dilemma. It is a vein which is in danger of being worked out, the demand is constant, the… — Cyril Connolly
After I convinced them that I was a harmless novelist, I actually got them to give me a tour of the harem - which is… — Dorothy Dunnett

Who Wrote These Novelist Quotes

274 authors contributed a total of 365 Novelist Quotes, led by these top contributors: