Quotes to Enjoy
"My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers:
when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip."
~ Elmore Leonard
I can fix a bad page, but I can’t fix a blank page.
~ Nora Roberts
"For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can.
Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can."
~ Ernest Hemingway
"To me the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make."
~Truman Capote
"You see things as they are and ask 'Why?'
I dream of things as they never were and ask, 'Why not?'"
~ George Bernard Shaw
"You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written.
And then, if it's going to be too difficult for grown-ups, you write it for children." ~ Madeleine L'Engle
"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." ~ Jack London
"I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words
as they tangle with human emotions." ~ James Michener
"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~ Anton Chekhov
"Don't say the old lady screamed--bring her on and let her scream." ~ Mark Twain
"Usually, when people get to the end of a chapter, they close the book and go to sleep. I deliberately write a book so when the reader gets to the end of the chapter, he or she must turn one more page. When people tell me I've kept them up all night, I feel like I've succeeded." ~ Sidney Sheldon
"No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader."
~ Robert Frost
"Cut out all those exclamation marks.
An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke."
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
"If you wish to be a writer, write." ~ Epictetus
"The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.
You can always do it better, find the exact word,
the apt phrase, the leaping simile." ~ Robert Cormier
"Books aren't written--they're rewritten. Including your own.
It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it."
~ Michael Crichton
"The difference between the right and the nearly right word is the same as that between lightning and the lightning bug."
~ Mark Twain
"This morning I took out a comma, and this afternoon I put it back again." ~ Oscar Wilde
"The wastebasket is the writer's best friend." ~ Isaac Singer
"When you catch an adjective, kill it.
No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them --
then the rest will be valuable." ~ Mark Twain
"You will have to write and put away or burn a lot of material before you are comfortable in this medium. You might as well start now and get the work done. For I believe that eventually quantity will make for quality." ~ Ray Bradbury
"Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential." ~ Jessamyn West
"This manuscript of yours that has just come back from another editor is a precious package. Don't consider it rejected. Consider that you've addressed it 'to the editor who can appreciate my work'
and it has simply come back stamped 'not at this address.' Just keep looking for the right address." ~ Barbara Kingsolver
"The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair." ~ Mary Heaton Vorse
"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." ~ William Somerset Maugham
"When I was a young boy they called me a liar. Now that I'm all grown up, they call me a writer." ~ Isaac Singer
"The profession of book-writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business." ~ John Steinbeck
"We don't write what we know. We write what we wonder about." ~ Richard Peck
"The last thing one settles in writing a book is what one should put in first." ~ Pascal
"Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending."
~ Longfellow
"The best time for planning a book is when you're doing the dishes." ~ Agatha Christie
"Plot springs from character...
I've always sort of believed that these people inside me--these characters--know who they are and what they're about and what happens, and they need me to help get it down on paper because they don't type." ~ Anne Lamott
when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip."
~ Elmore Leonard
I can fix a bad page, but I can’t fix a blank page.
~ Nora Roberts
"For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can.
Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can."
~ Ernest Hemingway
"To me the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make."
~Truman Capote
"You see things as they are and ask 'Why?'
I dream of things as they never were and ask, 'Why not?'"
~ George Bernard Shaw
"You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written.
And then, if it's going to be too difficult for grown-ups, you write it for children." ~ Madeleine L'Engle
"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." ~ Jack London
"I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words
as they tangle with human emotions." ~ James Michener
"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~ Anton Chekhov
"Don't say the old lady screamed--bring her on and let her scream." ~ Mark Twain
"Usually, when people get to the end of a chapter, they close the book and go to sleep. I deliberately write a book so when the reader gets to the end of the chapter, he or she must turn one more page. When people tell me I've kept them up all night, I feel like I've succeeded." ~ Sidney Sheldon
"No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader."
~ Robert Frost
"Cut out all those exclamation marks.
An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke."
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
"If you wish to be a writer, write." ~ Epictetus
"The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.
You can always do it better, find the exact word,
the apt phrase, the leaping simile." ~ Robert Cormier
"Books aren't written--they're rewritten. Including your own.
It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it."
~ Michael Crichton
"The difference between the right and the nearly right word is the same as that between lightning and the lightning bug."
~ Mark Twain
"This morning I took out a comma, and this afternoon I put it back again." ~ Oscar Wilde
"The wastebasket is the writer's best friend." ~ Isaac Singer
"When you catch an adjective, kill it.
No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them --
then the rest will be valuable." ~ Mark Twain
"You will have to write and put away or burn a lot of material before you are comfortable in this medium. You might as well start now and get the work done. For I believe that eventually quantity will make for quality." ~ Ray Bradbury
"Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential." ~ Jessamyn West
"This manuscript of yours that has just come back from another editor is a precious package. Don't consider it rejected. Consider that you've addressed it 'to the editor who can appreciate my work'
and it has simply come back stamped 'not at this address.' Just keep looking for the right address." ~ Barbara Kingsolver
"The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair." ~ Mary Heaton Vorse
"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." ~ William Somerset Maugham
"When I was a young boy they called me a liar. Now that I'm all grown up, they call me a writer." ~ Isaac Singer
"The profession of book-writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business." ~ John Steinbeck
"We don't write what we know. We write what we wonder about." ~ Richard Peck
"The last thing one settles in writing a book is what one should put in first." ~ Pascal
"Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending."
~ Longfellow
"The best time for planning a book is when you're doing the dishes." ~ Agatha Christie
"Plot springs from character...
I've always sort of believed that these people inside me--these characters--know who they are and what they're about and what happens, and they need me to help get it down on paper because they don't type." ~ Anne Lamott