Writing Quotes | Beyond Motive 7/27

top of page

Writing Quotes

"The lived experiences which could not find adequate scientific expression in the substance doctrine of rational psychology were now validated in light of new and better methods."

"The lived experiences which could not find adequate scientific expression in the substance doctrine of rational psychology were now validated in light of new and better methods."

Wilhelm Dilthey, German Historian

Writing, Doctrine, Expression, Light, Now

36

"Novels include padding; I think padding may be an essential part of the novel, for all I know."

"Novels include padding; I think padding may be an essential part of the novel, for all I know."

Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian Poet

Writing, Structure, Novel, Creativity

36

"When I first began to write, I had been a child for most of my life, and my childhood memories were vivid and potent, and the forces that shaped me, Most of them have grown fainter with time, and whenever I write one down, I give it away: it ceases to have the shadowy life of memory and becomes fixed in letters: it ceases to be mine; it loses that mobile unreliability of the live."

"When I first began to write, I had been a child for most of my life, and my childhood memories were vivid and potent, and the forces that shaped me, Most of them have grown fainter with time, and whenever I write one down, I give it away: it ceases to have the shadowy life of memory and becomes fixed in letters: it ceases to be mine; it loses that mobile unreliability of the live."

Rebecca Solnit, American Actress

Writing, Memory, Creativity, Imagination

36

"We learned in the university to consider Wordsworth and Keats as Romantics. They were only a generation apart, but Wordsworth didn't even read Keats's book when he gave him a copy."

"We learned in the university to consider Wordsworth and Keats as Romantics. They were only a generation apart, but Wordsworth didn't even read Keats's book when he gave him a copy."

Thom Gunn, British Poet

Writing, University

36

"I'm convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. If one is writing for one's own pleasure, that fear may be mild - timidity is the word I've used here. If, however, one is working under deadline - a school paper, a newspaper article, the SAT writing sample - that fear may be intense."

"I'm convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. If one is writing for one's own pleasure, that fear may be mild - timidity is the word I've used here. If, however, one is working under deadline - a school paper, a newspaper article, the SAT writing sample - that fear may be intense."

Stephen King, American Author

Writing, Fear, Pressure, Creativity

36

"Male writers who never find the stabilizing force of an understanding woman in their lives usually end up as the jaded figures of their days, the types who give much artistic expression to the world, but who are lonely in their overcrowded worlds of love."

"Male writers who never find the stabilizing force of an understanding woman in their lives usually end up as the jaded figures of their days, the types who give much artistic expression to the world, but who are lonely in their overcrowded worlds of love."

Janvier Chouteu-Chando, Cameroonian Author

Writing, Love, Women, Understanding, Stability

36

"A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to pour your story into."

"A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to pour your story into."

Helen Dunmore, British Poet

Writing, End, Trying

35

"I'm not happy when I'm writing, but I'm more unhappy when I'm not."

"I'm not happy when I'm writing, but I'm more unhappy when I'm not."

Fannie Hurst, American Writer

35

"I started writing to please myself, a story I would like to read, and that is still true."

"I started writing to please myself, a story I would like to read, and that is still true."

Jean M. Auel, American Writer

35

"I'm more interested in writing than in performing."

"I'm more interested in writing than in performing."

Frank McCourt, Irish Author

35

"Sometimes I wish the writing and drawing were more integrated."

"Sometimes I wish the writing and drawing were more integrated."

Alison Bechdel, American Cartoonist

35

"Seventy percent of what I write, I throw out. I can write very easily, but writing original things is the hard bit."

"Seventy percent of what I write, I throw out. I can write very easily, but writing original things is the hard bit."

Mike Rutherford, English Musician

35

"You would go mad if you began to speculate about the impact your novel might have while you were still writing it."

"You would go mad if you began to speculate about the impact your novel might have while you were still writing it."

Jonathan Coe, English Novelist

35

"I wanted to rock back and forth between myth and distant futures, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It felt a bit like prophecy and a bit like storytelling."

"I wanted to rock back and forth between myth and distant futures, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It felt a bit like prophecy and a bit like storytelling."

George Murray, Canadian Poet

Writing, Myth, Prophecy, Today, Tomorrow

35

"The essays are different because ultimately it's things I'm interested in, and I'm really just writing about myself and using those subjects as a prism."

"The essays are different because ultimately it's things I'm interested in, and I'm really just writing about myself and using those subjects as a prism."

Chuck Klosterman, American Critic

35

"All artists are now free to express their own personality."

"All artists are now free to express their own personality."

Maurice Denis, French Artist

Writing, Artists, Now, Personality

35

"I completed my first novel when I was 19 years old."

"I completed my first novel when I was 19 years old."

Danielle Steel, American Novelist

Writing, First, Old, Years

35

"I wrote for nearly six hours. When I stopped, the dark mood, as if by magic, had folded its cloak and gone away."

"I wrote for nearly six hours. When I stopped, the dark mood, as if by magic, had folded its cloak and gone away."

Zane Grey, American Author

35

"Likewise, I see no shame in writing Captain America or Wolverine."

"Likewise, I see no shame in writing Captain America or Wolverine."

Mark Millar, Scottish Writer

Writing, America, Shame

35

"There was, in my view, an unwritten contract with the reader that the writer must honour. No single element of an imagined world or any of its characters should be allowed to dissolve on an authorial whim. The invented had to be as solid and as self-consistent as the actual. This was a contract founded on mutual trust."

"There was, in my view, an unwritten contract with the reader that the writer must honour. No single element of an imagined world or any of its characters should be allowed to dissolve on an authorial whim. The invented had to be as solid and as self-consistent as the actual. This was a contract founded on mutual trust."

Ian McEwan, British Author

Writing, Integrity, Consistency, Trust

35

"I find that I have about six bloggable ideas a day. I also find that writing twice as long a post doesn't increase communication, it usually decreases it. And finally, I found that people get antsy if there are unread posts in their queue."

"I find that I have about six bloggable ideas a day. I also find that writing twice as long a post doesn't increase communication, it usually decreases it. And finally, I found that people get antsy if there are unread posts in their queue."

Seth Godin, American Writer

Writing, Blogging, Communication, Productivity

35

"I was very happy sitting alone at a dining room table, writing a script."

"I was very happy sitting alone at a dining room table, writing a script."

Conrad Hall, American Artist

35

"Writing is a solitary occupation."

"Writing is a solitary occupation."

Bernard Cornwell, British Novelist

Writing, Occupation

35

"I'm incapable of writing without social commentary. I like to think that it's integrated and not really heavy handedly didactic."

"I'm incapable of writing without social commentary. I like to think that it's integrated and not really heavy handedly didactic."

John Shirley, American Author

35

"I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step."

"I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step."

Rita Dove, American Poet

35

"A novelist should not be too intelligent either, although... he may be permitted to be an intellectual."

"A novelist should not be too intelligent either, although... he may be permitted to be an intellectual."

Anthony Burgess, English Novelist

35

"The only way to write is to write. Writers write. And when they've written, they write some more."

"The only way to write is to write. Writers write. And when they've written, they write some more."

Jasper Fforde, British Novelist

Writing, Discipline, Creativity, Practice

35

"The most emphatic place in a clause or sentence is the end. This is the climax; and, during the momentary pause that follows, that last word continues, as it were, to reverberate in the reader's mind. It has, in fact, the last word."

"The most emphatic place in a clause or sentence is the end. This is the climax; and, during the momentary pause that follows, that last word continues, as it were, to reverberate in the reader's mind. It has, in fact, the last word."

F. L. Lucas, English Critic

Writing, End, Fact, Mind, Word

35

"I think some aspects of writing can be taught. Obviously, you can't teach vision or talent. But you can help with comfort."

"I think some aspects of writing can be taught. Obviously, you can't teach vision or talent. But you can help with comfort."

Toni Morrison, American Novelist

Writing, Talent, Vision, Comfort, Help

35

"Writers seldom write the things they think. They simply write the things they think other folks think they think."

"Writers seldom write the things they think. They simply write the things they think other folks think they think."

Elbert Hubbard, American Writer

Writing, Thought, Perception, Expression

35

"Publishing a book is like stuffing a note into a bottle and hurling it into the sea. Some bottles drown, some come safe to land, where the notes are read and then possibly cherished, or else misinterpreted, or else understood all too well by those who hate the message. You never know who your readers might be."

"Publishing a book is like stuffing a note into a bottle and hurling it into the sea. Some bottles drown, some come safe to land, where the notes are read and then possibly cherished, or else misinterpreted, or else understood all too well by those who hate the message. You never know who your readers might be."

Margaret Atwood, Canadian Novelist

Writing, Publishing, Books, Audience, Hope

35

"I'm terrible at story and structure, but I'm not so bad at writing dialogue."

"I'm terrible at story and structure, but I'm not so bad at writing dialogue."

Steve Buscemi, American Actor

35

"Writing is the beast unto itself."

"Writing is the beast unto itself."

Omar Epps, American Actor

35

"Words must surely be counted among the most powerful drugs man ever invented."

"Words must surely be counted among the most powerful drugs man ever invented."

Leo Rosten, American Novelist

Writing, Drugs, Man, Words

35

"What I said about John was that he liberated me from my anxieties about writing in a correct, acceptable way."

"What I said about John was that he liberated me from my anxieties about writing in a correct, acceptable way."

Harry Mathews, American Author

35

"Even a polemic has some justification if one considers that my own first poetic experiments began during a dictatorship and mark the origin of the Hermetic movement."

"Even a polemic has some justification if one considers that my own first poetic experiments began during a dictatorship and mark the origin of the Hermetic movement."

Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian Author

Writing, Dictatorship, First, Justification

35

"It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not."

"It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not."

Paul Auster, American Author

Writing, End, Night, Voice, Wrong

35

"I'm my characters' galley slave."

"I'm my characters' galley slave."

Chloe Thurlow, British Novelist

Writing, Creativity, Work, Discipline

35

"Literary Agent: "I meant manuscript wise.Tina: "Ohh. Um, yes. I've brought a few with me, just some rough drafts. (shuffle, shuffle) You might say something of an experiment."

"Literary Agent: "I meant manuscript wise.Tina: "Ohh. Um, yes. I've brought a few with me, just some rough drafts. (shuffle, shuffle) You might say something of an experiment."

Christina Engela, South African Author

Writing, Creativity, Literature, Art

35

"I don't think artists are made, I think they're born."

"I don't think artists are made, I think they're born."

Don Van Vliet, American Artist

Writing, Artists

34

"If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it."

"If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it."

Anais Nin, American Author

Writing, Culture

34

"In writing I found something I could do at least as well as my peers, if not better."

"In writing I found something I could do at least as well as my peers, if not better."

Brian P. Cleary, American Author

34

"I think that the justices were totally answering the way that they should. I think that the senators, as best I could tell, for the most part, Democrat and Republican, respected that."

"I think that the justices were totally answering the way that they should. I think that the senators, as best I could tell, for the most part, Democrat and Republican, respected that."

Fred Thompson, American Politician

Writing, Republican, Senators

34

"My writings are the window of my soul through which you can see me, feel me, and understand me."

"My writings are the window of my soul through which you can see me, feel me, and understand me."

Debasish Mridha, American Author

Writing, Writings, Window, Soul, Understanding

34

"Cursive writing does not mean what I think it does."

"Cursive writing does not mean what I think it does."

Nancy Cartwright, American Actress

34

"However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with a historical setting and a novel with a contemporary setting, as far as I'm concerned."

"However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with a historical setting and a novel with a contemporary setting, as far as I'm concerned."

Helen Dunmore, British Poet

Writing, Difficulties

34

"Over and over I'm on the point of giving it up."

"Over and over I'm on the point of giving it up."

Beatrice Wood, American Artist

Writing, Giving

34

"But this is neither here nor there why do I mention it? Ask my pen, it governs me, I govern not it."

"But this is neither here nor there why do I mention it? Ask my pen, it governs me, I govern not it."

Laurence Sterne, Irish Novelist

34

"Poe is the only impeccable writer. He was never mistaken."

"Poe is the only impeccable writer. He was never mistaken."

Paul Valery, French Poet

Writing, Writer

34

"The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others."

"The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others."

Leo Rosten, American Novelist

Writing, Writer

34

bottom of page