Writers-on-writing Quote by Peter Selgin

“For twenty years I have sat alone at a desk tinkering with sentences and then sending them out, and for most of my literary…

— Rebecca Solnit

“[...]all men are writers, journalists scribbling within their skulls the narrative of what they see and hear[...]”

— Terry Pratchett

“To become better writers we must become the best thieves and liars in the business. We slink around the pages of everyone else’s work…

— Chris Stocking

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

— E.B. White

“What lofty subject are you addressing in Tuesday’s column?” she asked. “Pencils! I’ve just discovered a source for the fat yellow pencils with thick…

— Lilian Jackson Braun

“The great thing about writing fiction is that you can do whatever the fuck you want, go as far as you are willing to…

— Richard Denney

“As writing is one of the desperate professions, it has universal appeal, especially for those not engaged in it.”

— WH Auden

“Writing is such a solitary occupation that it takes a long time to build up a group of professional peers with whom you genuinely…

— Sara Sheridan

Writing is for men who can think and feel, not mindless sensation seekers out of nightclubs and bars. But these are bad times. We…

— Naguib Mahfouz

“I am by profession an agent and no writer, so you will have to pardon any lack of literary flourish.”

— Julian Darius

“As social concerns override literary ones, writers seem fated to eschew virtuosity and experimentation in favor of a bland but immediately accessible style. Writing…

— Nicholas Carr

“All my friends and relatives have always taken a condescending tone to my writing, and never ceased urging me in a friendly way not…

— Anton Chekhov