"The conditions of writing change absolutely between the first novel and the second: the first is an adventure, the second is a duty. The first is like a sprint which leaves you exhausted and triumphant beside the track. With the second the writer has been transformed into a long-distance runner - the finishing tape is out of sight, at the end of life. He must guard his energies and plan ahead. A long endurance is more exhausting than a sprint, and less heroic."

Writing, Journey, Duty, Effort

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"The conditions of writing change absolutely between the first novel and the second: the first is an adventure, the second is a duty. The first is like a sprint which leaves you exhausted and triumphant beside the track. With the second the writer has been transformed into a long-distance runner - the finishing tape is out of sight, at the end of life. He must guard his energies and plan ahead. A long endurance is more exhausting than a sprint, and less heroic."

Exlpore more Writing quotes

"Twofold misjudgement. - The misfortune suffered by clear-minded and easily understood writers is that they are taken for shallow and thus little effort is expended on reading them: and the good fortune that attends the obscure is that the reader toils at them and ascribes to them the pleasure he has in fact gained from his own zeal."

Friedrich Nietzsche, German Philosopher

Writing, Error, Effort, Understanding

"I believe that to be the world's greatest livingwriterthere must be somethingterribly wrong with you.I don't even want to be the world's greatestdead writer.just being dead would be fairenough."

Charles Bukowski, American Author

Writing, Fame, Death, Desire

"Copywriters, journalists, mainstream authors, ghostwriters, bloggers and advertising creatives have as much right to think of themselves as good writers as academics, poets, or literary novelists."

Sara Sheridan, Scottish Author

Writing, Creativity, Identity, Profession

"I'd be somewhat of a lousy writer if I didn't know what to say."

S. A. Tawks, British Author

Writing, Expression, Creativity, Voice

"Anyone who claims to be good at lying is obviously bad at lying. Thus - as a writer myself - I cannot comment on whether or not writers are exceptionally good liars, because whatever I said would actually mean its complete opposite."

Chuck Klosterman, American Critic

Writing, Lying, Writer, Writers

"A true piece of writing sets you free."

A. D. Posey, American Poet

Writing, Freedom, Creativity, Expression

"A writer travels through the heart again and again to express the beauty of its contents."

Debasish Mridha, American Author

Writing, Writer, Heart, Beauty, Expression

"A writer's duty is to draw a picture that expresses more inner beauty, deeper anxiety, and more complex tragedy than a real character ever can."

Debasish Mridha, American Author

Writing, Writer, Duty, Beauty, Anxiety

"The Book is more important than your plans for it. You have to go with what works for The Book ~ if your ideas appear hollow or forced when they are put on paper, chop them, erase them, pulverise them and start again. Don't whine when things are not going your way, because they are going the right way for The Book, which is more important. The show must go on, and so must The Book."

E.A. Bucchianeri, American Author

Writing, Creativity, Persistence, Adaptation

"You are the writer of your life story, so don't forget to write the best one."

Debasish Mridha, American Author

Writing, Story, Life, Creation, Self

Explore more quotes by Graham Greene

"It is the storyteller's task to elicit sympathy and a measure of understanding for those who lie outside the boundaries of State approval."

Communication

"Reality in our century is not something to be faced."

Reality

"He wasn't a patient. I expect someone cured him. You cure a lot of people in this country, don't you, with bullets?"

Justice

"He gave her a bright fake smile; so much of life was a putting off of unhappiness for another time. Nothing was ever lost by delay. He had a dim idea that perhaps if one delayed long enough, things were taken out of one's hands altogether by death."

Reflection

"Rocinante was of more value for a true traveller than a jet plane. Jet planes were for business men."

Travel

"Old age saves us from the realization of a great many fears."

Aging

"Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't, why should we? They talk about people and the proletariat; I talk about the suckers and the mugs. It's the same thing."

People

"They are always saying God loves us. If that's love I'd rather have a bit of kindness."

Love

"A solitary laugh is often a laugh of superiority."

Superiority

"So much of a novelist's writing, takes place in the unconscious: in those depths the last word is written before the word appears on paper. We remember the details of our story, we do not invent them."

Creativity