Quotations about Writing

Enjoy!

The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say. - Mark Twain

The wastebasket is a writer's best friend. - Isaac Bashevis Singer

The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. - Anaïs Nin

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter - it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. - Mark Twain

You should avoid the passive tense ... The adverb is not your friend - Stephen King

A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer. - Karl Kraus

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. - Ray Bradbury

I try to leave out the parts that people skip. - Elmore Leonard

What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers. - Logan Pearsall Smith

Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. - Sharon O'Brien

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

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. - William Wordsworth

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. - Anton Chekhov

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. - Toni Morrison

Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space. - Orson Scott Card

A metaphor is like a simile. - Author Unknown

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. - Sylvia Plath