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Quotes about writing

377 quotes from 206 people

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The hero of my tale, whom I love with all the power of my soul, whom I have tried to portray in all his beauty, who has been, is, and will be beautiful, is Truth.
Leo Tolstoy1828–1910Sevastopol in May (1855), Ch. 16
- Truth & Lies
For fear of the newspapers politicians are dull, and at last they are too dull even for the newspapers.
G. K. Chesterton1874–1936All Things Considered (1908)
- Journalism
- Politics
The good parts of a book may be only something a writer is lucky enough to overhear or it may be the wreck of his whole damn life — and one is as good as the other.
Ernest Hemingway1899–1961Letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald (4 September 1929); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker
In the order of literature, as in others, there is no act that is not the coronation of an infinite series of causes and the source of an infinite series of effects.
Jorge Luis Borges1899–1986“The Flower of Coleridge” (“La flor de Coleridge”), Other Inquisitions (1952)
The pen is the tongue of the soul; as are the thoughts engendered there, so will be the things written.
Miguel de Cervantes1547–1616Don Quixote, Part II (1615), Ch. 16 (tr. Henry Edward Watts, 1895)
Writers may be solitary but they also tend to flock together: they like being solitary together.
Neil Gaimanborn 1960January magazine interview (2002)
Depend upon it, after all, Thomas, Literature is the most noble of professions. In fact, it is about the only one fit for a man. For my own part, there is no seducing me from the path.
Edgar Allan Poe1809–1849“Letter to Frederick W. Thomas” (February 14, 1849).
- Work
The writer’s responsibility is to increase, develop our senses, expand our vision, heighten our awareness and enrich our articulateness.
Anaïs Nin1903–1977The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 5, as quoted in Moving to Antarctica: An Anthology of Women’s Writing (1975) by Margaret Kaminski
- Responsibility
Frankly, I have no taste for either poverty or honest labor, so writing is the only recourse left me.
Hunter S. Thompson1937–2005Letter to Arch Gerhart (29 January 1958), p. 106
- Work
Fiction is based on reality unless you’re a fairy-tale artist, you have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you’re writing about before you alter it.
Hunter S. Thompson1937–2005Associated Press interview (2003)
We never sit anything out. We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.
Ray Bradbury1920–2012Zen in the Art of Writing (1990)
- Inspiration
Truth that is naked is the most beautiful, and the simpler its expression the deeper is the impression it makes.
Arthur Schopenhauer1788–1860“On Authorship and Style”, Parerga and Paralipomena (1851)
- Truth & Lies
If there be music in my reader, I would gladly wake it.
George MacDonald1824–1905The Fantastic Imagination (1893)
- Reading
A fairytale, like a butterfly or a bee, helps itself on all sides, sips at every wholesome flower, and spoils not one.
George MacDonald1824–1905The Fantastic Imagination (1893)
Ten years from now, no one is going to care how quickly the books came out. The only thing that will matter, the only thing anyone will remember, is how good they were. That’s my main concern, and always will be.
George R. R. Martinborn 1948Official blog, (July 2007)