"That wasn't a bad price for a first book. My agent upped it as much as possible. I was 27 and had nothing behind me. I was working like a fool to earn a living and pay for my apartment."

Writing, First, Fool, Living, Nothing

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"That wasn't a bad price for a first book. My agent upped it as much as possible. I was 27 and had nothing behind me. I was working like a fool to earn a living and pay for my apartment."

Exlpore more Writing quotes

"Writing. Is it a way to be remembered,or a need to become immortal?"

Toba Beta, Indonesian Author

Writing, Immortality, Truth, Future, Power

"The book is openly a kind of spiritual autobiography, but the trick is that on any other level it's a kind of insane collage of fragments of memory."

Jonathan Lethem, American Writer

Writing, Autobiography, Memory, Spiritual

"I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine."

Emily Dickinson, American Poet

Writing, Word, Power, Expression

"Between the lines of every book the writer reveals their own secrets."

Chloe Thurlow, British Novelist

Writing, Secrets, Observation, Insight

"Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor."

Soren Kierkegaard, Danish Philosopher

Writing, Paradox

"My whole theory of writing I can sum up in one sentence. An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward."

F. Scott Fitzgerald, American Author

Writing, Creativity, Youth, Legacy

"Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself - it is the occurring which is difficult."

Stephen Leacock, Canadian Economist

Writing, Ideas, Simplicity

"I've always considered writing the most hateful kind of work. I suspect it's a bit like fucking, which is only fun for amateurs. Old whores don't do much giggling."

Hunter S. Thompson, American Journalist

Writing, Work, Art, Honesty

"A book is a product of a pact with the Devil that inverts the Faustian contract, he'd told Allie. Dr Faustus sacrificed eternity in return for two dozen years of power; the writer agrees to the ruination of his life, and gains (but only if he's lucky) maybe not eternity, but posterity, at least. Either way (this was Jumpy's point) it's the Devil who wins."

Salman Rushdie, Indian Novelist

Writing, Creativity, Devil, Posterity

"Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."

Mark Twain, American Author

Writing, Time, Will

Explore more quotes by Patricia Highsmith

"My imagination functions much better when I don't have to speak to people."

Imagination

"A few years ago, there were requests to me, Can we make this? I said that I have no rights. Contact the Hitchcock estate, which won't release it for a remake."

Rights

"I was in New York. Hitchcock was in California. He rang me to make a report on his progress and said, I'm having trouble. I've just sacked my second screenwriter."

Progress

"Robert Walker as Bruno was excellent. He had elegance and humor, and the proper fondness for his mother."

Humor

"Ripley is married. And he's not lost. He has his feet on the ground."

Fiction

"I don't want to know movie directors. I don't want to be close to them. I don't want to interfere with their work. I don't want them to interfere with mine."

Work

"Some fellow from the Third World kept hammering for prizes for a Communist film which was rotten."

Film

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Exlpore more Writing quotes

"Writing. Is it a way to be remembered,or a need to become immortal?"

"The book is openly a kind of spiritual autobiography, but the trick is that on any other level it's a kind of insane collage of fragments of memory."

"I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine."

"Between the lines of every book the writer reveals their own secrets."

"Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor."

"My whole theory of writing I can sum up in one sentence. An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward."

"Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself - it is the occurring which is difficult."

"I've always considered writing the most hateful kind of work. I suspect it's a bit like fucking, which is only fun for amateurs. Old whores don't do much giggling."

"Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."

Explore more quotes by Patricia Highsmith

"My imagination functions much better when I don't have to speak to people."

"A few years ago, there were requests to me, Can we make this? I said that I have no rights. Contact the Hitchcock estate, which won't release it for a remake."

"I was in New York. Hitchcock was in California. He rang me to make a report on his progress and said, I'm having trouble. I've just sacked my second screenwriter."

"I like to work for four or five hours a day. I aim for seven days a week."

"I have no television - I hate it."

"I find the public passion for justice quite boring and artificial."

"Robert Walker as Bruno was excellent. He had elegance and humor, and the proper fondness for his mother."

"Ripley is married. And he's not lost. He has his feet on the ground."

"I don't want to know movie directors. I don't want to be close to them. I don't want to interfere with their work. I don't want them to interfere with mine."

"Some fellow from the Third World kept hammering for prizes for a Communist film which was rotten."