Quotes about writing
377 quotes from 206 people
Neil Gaimanborn 1960Trigger Warning (2015), Introduction to An Invocation of Incuriosity (p. xxxii)If Shakespeare were alive today, he might be writing on Twitter.
Ai Weiweiborn 1957Osnos, Evan. “It’s Not Beautiful: An Artist Takes On the System.” New Yorker, May 24, 2010, 54–63.I am always at a loss to know how much to believe of my own stories.
Washington Irving1783–1859Tales of a Traveler, To the Reader (1824)I read the newspapers avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.
Aneurin Bevan1897–1960Interview in The Times (29 March 1960), p. 7I believe one writes because one has to create a world in which one can live.
Anaïs Nin1903–1977February 1954 The Diary of Anaïs Nin Vol. 5 (1947-1955), as quoted in Woman as Writer (1978) by Jeannette L. Webber and Joan Grumman, p. 38To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week’s newspapers.
Nassim Nicholas Talebborn 1960The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), p. 21Decency is not news; it is buried in the obituaries — but it is a force stronger than crime.
Robert A. Heinlein1907–1988This I Believe: Our Noble, Essential Decency (1952)Every writer is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull.
Rod Serling1924–1975Rod Serling Vogue, (1 April, 1957).All stories are about wolves. All worth repeating, that is. Anything else is sentimental drivel.
Margaret Atwoodborn 1939The Blind Assassin (2000)
Evelyn Waugh1903–1966A Little Learning (1964), First lines- Neil Gaimanborn 1960“somewhat less sinister ducks” Blog entry (23 April 2004)
Alexander Pope1688–1744The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (1717), Preface
Michel de Montaigne1533–1592Essays, Book III, Ch. 12, Of Physiognomy
Mary Shelley1797–1851Frankenstein (1818), Introduction to the 1831 edition of FrankensteinIn context
Willa Cather1873–1947O Pioneers! (1913), Part II, Ch. 4