Writing Quotes

18562 Writing quotes by 6643 unique authors

God, what a ghastly enterprise to be in, though-and what an odd way to achieve success. I'm an exhibitionist who wants to hide, but is… — David Foster Wallace
When I say or write something, there are actually a whole lot of different things I am communicating. The propositional content (i.e., the verbal information… — David Foster Wallace
Under fun's new administration, writing fiction becomes a way to go deep inside yourself and illuminate precisely the stuff you don't want to see or… — David Foster Wallace
Of course, the fact that Dostoevsky can tell a juicy story isn't enough to make him great. If it were, Judith Krantz and John Grisham… — David Foster Wallace
Some words have to be explicitly uttered, Lenore. Only by actually uttering certain words does one really DO what one SAYS. 'Love' is one of… — David Foster Wallace
You have a great deal of yourself on the line, writing- your vanity is at stake. You discover a tricky thing about fiction writing; a… — David Foster Wallace
Postmodern irony and cynicism's become an end in itself, a measure of hip sophistication and literary savvy. Few artists dare to try to talk about… — David Foster Wallace
No one can call themselves a writer until he or she has written at least fifty stories. — David Foster Wallace
I AM A PERSON WHO THINKS ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE SPIRIT WHEN I WRITE. I THINK ABOUT WHAT CAN'T BE KNOWN AND ONLY IMAGINED.… — Amy Tan
Writing is not hard. Just get paper and pencil, sit down, and write as it occurs to you. The writing is easy-it's the occurring that's… — Stephen Leacock
When I finish a first draft, it's always just as much of a mess as it's always been. I still make the same mistakes every… — Michael Chabon
Writing is like everything else: the more you do it the better you get. Don't try to perfect as you go along, just get to… — Iain Banks
Writing is an adventure. — Winston Churchill
Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type or write with your toes-it's still just work. — Sinclair Lewis
The writer's duty is to keep on writing. — William Styron
I think my prose reads as if English were my second language. By the time I get to the end of a paragraph, I'm dodging… — Lynn Abbey
Words have weight, sound and appearance; it is only by considering these that you can write a sentence that is good to look at and… — W. Somerset Maugham
After finishing the first draft, I work for as long as it takes (for two or three weeks, most often) to rework that first draft… — Kent Haruf
Never use an adverb to modify the verb 'said' . . . he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way)… — Elmore Leonard
How do you write? You write, man, you write, that's how, and you do it the way the old English walnut tree puts forth leaf… — William Saroyan
In the most basic way, writers are defined not by the stories they tell, or their politics, or their gender, or their race, but by… — Donald E. Westlake
Acutely aware of the poverty of my means, language became obstacle. At every page I thought, 'That's not it.' So I began again with other… — Elie Wiesel
And the reason you hate writing so much is because you start analyzing your work before you're done pouring it onto the page. Your Left-brain… — Jeff Bollow
There are people who have never studied writing who are capable of being writers. I know this because I am an example. I was a… — Elizabeth Berg
Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is a result of good work habits. That's it in a nutshell ... In order to be… — Twyla Tharp

Who Wrote These Writing Quotes

6,643 authors contributed a total of 18,562 Writing Quotes, led by these top contributors: