Write Quotes

10211 quotes by 5140 authors

I know that I'm a real writer because sometimes I write a story just because I want to; not because someone's told me to. — Fay Weldon
You never learn how to write a novel. You just learn how to write the novel that you're writing. — Gene Wolfe
I have no interest in teaching writers how to sell. I want to teach them how to write. If the process is sound, the product… — William Zinsser
It's very hard to write about that which is always beautiful and pleasant and good. You don't get anywhere with it. There's no friction in… — Paul Bowles
When I write a page that reads badly I know that it is myself who has written it. When it reads well it has come… — Gerald Brenan
A man can write one book that can be great, but this doesn't make him a great writer-just the writer of a great book. .… — Anthony Burgess
When you write, you lay out a line of words. The line of words is a miner's pick, a wood carver's gouge, a surgeon's probe.… — Annie Dillard
I've known several cases of writers who decide to write about something and they research the hell out of it and when they're ready to… — E L Doctorow
The first thing a writer has to do is find another source of income. Then, after you have begged, borrowed, stolen or saved up the… — Ellen Gilchrist
I write because something inner and unconscious forces me to. That is the first compulsion. The second is one of ethical and moral duty. I… — David Guterson
Don't write with a pen. Ink tends to give the impression the words shouldn't be changed. — Richard Hugo
You can write about anything, and if you write well enough, even the reader with no intrinsic interest in the subject will become involved. — Tracy Kidder
If I were to offer any advice to young writers, it would be this: be discriminating and be discerning about the work you set for… — Barry Lopez
I write at eighty-five for the same reasons that impelled me to write at forty-five; I was born with a passionate desire to communicate, to… — James A. Michener
At night I read and write, and things I have never understood become clear; I reap the harvest of the rest of the year's planting — Annie Dillard
I often need physical gesture to balance dialogue. If I write in public, every time I need to know what a character is doing with… — Chuck Palahniuk
I don't want you to write about what you know, because you don't know anything. I don't want to hear about your boyfriend or your… — Toni Morrison
Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you. — Zadie Smith
The muse appears at the point in my writing when I sense a subtle shift, a nudge to move over, and everything cracks open, the… — Amy Tan
Write in the kitchen, lock yourself up in the bathroom. Write on the bus or the welfare line, on the job or during meals. — Gloria E. AnzaldÃºa

Who Wrote These Write Quotes

5,140 authors contributed a total of 10,211 Write Quotes, led by these top contributors: