Books Quote by Joseph Addison

The whole duty of a writer is to please and satisfy himself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one.

— E. B. White

There's something very self-conscious about a writer who's addressing his reader. Don't do that.

— Ewan McGregor

Any one who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to…

— Henry Watson Fowler

An author who enjoys writing may sometimes please other people by accident, but he can never pass on to any one else the zestful…

— J. E. Buckrose

As a writer, I don't think it's my responsibility to make a point. I just write and hope there's someone who'll like it.

— Tama Janowitz

There is nothing more distressing or tiresome than a writer standing in front of an audience and reading his work.

— William Gaddis

“Your whole duty as a writer is to please and satisfy yourself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one.”

— Anonymous

“...a writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend…

— E. B. White

I think the only person a writer has an obligation to is himself. If what I write doesn't fulfill something in me, if I…

— Truman Capote

Ideally, the writer needs no audience other than the few who understand that it is immodest and greedy to want more.

— Gore Vidal

The purpose of a writer is to be read, and the criticism which would destroy the power of pleasing must be blown aside

— Samuel Johnson

A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. ... A writer has the duty to…

— E. B. White