Discipline Quote by Patrick Modiano

When I started writing, the first thing that came out was in English. I liked a few French things, but they were very overwhelming.

— Thomas Mars

I still prefer going to the classical writers, the modernists and the nineteenth century writers. Much of what has been done since then has…

— Pankaj Mishra

I like contemporary, bare-boned writing. I don't like having the language that I barely understand get in the way of me interpreting it over…

— Laurie Metcalf

Writing is a deeply immersive experience. When the words are flying, the house could be burgled and I wouldn’t notice. I have a low…

— Monica Ali

Writing was always a laborious thing for me. I never wrote fluently, I never wrote fluidly, there was something very awkward in my writing.…

— Vito Acconci

I don't think I could form my writing into scripts or novels. It's so sporadic. My writing's pretty poor. I often think, "Who's this…

— Benedict Cumberbatch

As for most writers, language is vital for me: a writer's ability to render a fictional world - characters, landscape, emotions - into something…

— Dinaw Mengestu

I love playing with language and the rhythm of language - for some reason, this seems so much easier for me to do when…

— Uzodinma Iweala

When I was writing in Bulgarian, I could hide behind beautiful prose.

— Miroslav Penkov

It's difficult for me to write in English as it's not my first language, but French is even worse because of my father's influence…

— Charlotte Gainsbourg

What I'm constantly striving for in my prose is clarity. So that, ideally, the writing will become so transparent that the reader will forget…

— Jonathan Lethem

I'm writing, I'm using language, I'm using that language to tell stories and even more so to get ideas across. And I just love…

— Walter Mosley