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Quotes about writing

377 quotes from 206 people

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The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader.
Robert Frost1874–1963
- Reading
Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.
Robert Frost1874–1963Address at Milton Academy, Massachusetts (May 17, 1935)
- Poetry
Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting.
Robert Frost1874–1963The Figure a Poem Makes (1939)
- Poetry
Writers live in houses other people built.
Neil Gaimanborn 1960Trigger Warning (2015), Introduction to An Invocation of Incuriosity (p. xxxii)
Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.
Neil Gaimanborn 1960“somewhat less sinister ducks” Blog entry (23 April 2004)
Writers may be solitary but they also tend to flock together: they like being solitary together.
Neil Gaimanborn 1960January magazine interview (2002)
One of the objects of a newspaper is to understand popular feeling and to give expression to it; another is to arouse among the people certain desirable sentiments; and the third is fearlessly to expose popular defects.
Mahatma Gandhi1869–1948Hind Swaraj (1909), Sect. 1
- Journalism
John is a physician, and perhaps⁠—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)⁠—perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman1860–1935The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)In context
- Health
If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1749–1832
I believe the media can be the greatest force for peace on Earth. Instead, all too often, it is wielded as a weapon of war. That has to be challenged.
Amy Goodmanborn 1957Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America (2016), Introduction
- Journalism
- War & Peace
The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good — in spite of all the people who say he is very good.
Robert Graves1895–1985The Observer (6 December 1964)
There is one story and one story only
That will prove worth your telling
Robert Graves1895–1985“To Juan at the Winter Solstice” from Poems 1938-1945 (1946)
A petty reason perhaps why novelists more and more try to keep a distance from journalists is that novelists are trying to write the truth and journalists are trying to write fiction.
Graham Greene1904–1991Letter to critic Stephen Pile, The Sunday Times (London, 18 January 1981)
- Journalism
A novel is an impression, not an argument
Thomas Hardy1840–1928Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891), Author’s Preface to the Fifth and Later EditionsIn context
In youth men are apt to write more wisely than they really know or feel; and the remainder of life may be not idly spent in realizing and convincing themselves of the wisdom which they uttered long ago.
Nathaniel Hawthorne1804–1864The Snow-Image, and Other Tales, Preface (1852)
- Wisdom
- Youth