Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.
—Franz Kafka (1883–1924) Austrian Novelist, Short Story Writer
Write without pay until somebody offers to pay you. If nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I do not like to write – I like to have written.
—Gloria Steinem (b.1934) American Feminist, Journalist, Social Activist, Political Activist
Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
—C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) Irish-born British Academic, Author, Literary Scholar
I don’t know much about creative writing programs. But they’re not telling the truth if they don’t teach, one, that writing is hard work, and, two, that you have to give up a great deal of life, your personal life, to be a writer.
—Doris Lessing (1919–2013) British Novelist, Poet
Writing crystallizes thought and thought produces action.
—Paul J. Meyer
Practically everybody in New York has half a mind to write a book, and does.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
On the day when a young writer corrects his first proof-sheet he is as proud as a schoolboy who has just got his first dose of pox.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.
—Leo Rosten (1908–97) Russian-born American Humorist, Teacher, Academic, Short Story Writer
Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth; a bad writer will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite.
—Edward Albee (1928–2016) American Playwright
Books want to be born: I never make them. They come to me and insist on being written, and on being such and such.
—Samuel Butler
The spoken discourse may roll on strongly as the great tidal wave; but, like the wave, it dies at last feebly on the sands. It is heard by few, remembered by still fewer, and fades away, like an echo in the mountains, leaving no token of power. It is the written human speech, that gave power and permanence to human thought.
—Albert Pike (1809–91) American Masonic Scholar, Orator, Jurist
Manuscript: something submitted in haste and returned at leisure.
—Oliver Herford (1863–1935) American Writer, Artist, Illustrator
You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.
—Neil Gaiman (b.1960) British Writer
Don’t say it was “delightful” make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers “Please will you do the job for me.”
—C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) Irish-born British Academic, Author, Literary Scholar
Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. He has fame and profit enough as a poet, and should not be taking the bread out of other people’s mouths.
—Jane Austen (1775–1817) English Novelist
Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.
—John Adams (1735–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
I became a writer because during several of the most important years of my life, writing seemed to me to be the most unreal, unattractive, and unnecessary idea ever imposed upon the human race.
—William Saroyan (1908–81) American Playwright, Novelist
The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.
—James A. Michener (1907–97) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Historian
They can’t yank a novelist like they can a pitcher. A novelist has to go the full nine, even if it kills him.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Short Story Writer, Social Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind and I like to write standing up.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
The multitude of books is a great evil. There is no limit to this fever for writing.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
The trade of authorship is a violent, and indestructible obsession.
—George Sand (1804–76) French Novelist, Dramatist
A synonym is a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
No pen, no ink, no table, no room, no time, no quiet, no inclination.
—James Joyce (1882–1941) Irish Novelist, Poet
When we see a natural style we are quite amazed and delighted, because we expected to see an author and find a man.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
My own luck has been curious all my literary life; I could never tell a lie that anyone would doubt, nor a truth that anyone would believe.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist