Writing Quotes

“Every writer hopes or boldly assumes that his life is in some sense exemplary, that the particular will turn out to be universal.” ~ Martin Amis

“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.” ~ Alexander Pope

“Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.” ~ John Ruskin

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”~ Henry David Thoreau

“The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure pure reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!” ~ Bill Watterson

“Science fiction is no more written for scientists than ghost stories are written for ghosts.” ~ Brian Aldiss

“Any writer, I suppose, feels that the world into which he was born is nothing less than a conspiracy against the cultivation of his talent.” ~ James Baldwin

“The free-lance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps.” ~ Robert Benchley

“It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.” ~ Jorge Luis Borges

“The original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.” ~ Cyril Connolly

“Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them.”~ Cyril Connolly

“First, have something to say. Second, say it. Third, stop when you have said it. Fourth, give it a good title.” ~ John Shaw Billings,

“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.”~ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

“Writing is a bit like shitting…if it’s coming in dribs and drabs or not coming at all, or being forced out, or if you’re missing the rhythm, it’s no pleasure at all.” ~ Tom Heehler

“If it was easy, everyone would do it rather than going around telling you their ideas and saying how they could be a writer if they had the time.” ~ Stanisław Lem

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”~ Thomas Mann

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” ~ George Orwell

“I have made this letter longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter.” ~ Blaise Pascal,

“When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.” ~ John Ruskin