Quotations for Writers
But words are things, and a small drop of ink, There are some books that refuse to be written. They stand their ground year after year and will not be persuaded. It isn't because the book is not there and worth being written -- it is only because the right form of the story does not present itself. There is only one right form for a story and if you fail to find that form the story will not tell itself. - Mark Twain Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it. - Oscar Wilde Fiction is the truth inside the lie. - Stephen King The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense. - Tom Clancy. History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. - Winston Churchill. There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly. - Buckminster Fuller
I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English - it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them - then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice. - Mark Twain The world is but a canvas to the imagination. - Henry David Thoreau The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas. - Linus Pauling There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line. - Oscar Levant Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. - John Steinbeck Writing is just having a sheet of paper, a pen and not a shadow of an idea of what you are going to say.'- Francoise Sagan All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath. - F Scott Fitzgerald Any fool can write a novel but it takes real genius to sell it. - J G Ballard I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork. - Peter De Vries Don't tell me the moon is shining, show me the glint of light on broken glass. - Anton Chekhov A writer is working when he's staring out of the window. - Burton Rascoe Write, write, write—till your fingers break. - Anton Chekhov One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else. - Eleanor Roosevelt
On a journey of one hundred miles, ninety is but halfway. - Chinese Proverb. Never talk about what you are going to do until after you have written it. - Mario Puzo In my view, stories and novels consist of three parts: narration, which moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech. You may wonder where plot is in all this. The answer - my answer, anyway - is nowhere. - Stephen King On Writing. If I leave a story for a long time, I cannot make myself finish it afterwards. I have to begin again. Anton Chekhov Don't be a one-book writer. - Pierre Burton. In writing, habit seems to be a much stronger force than either willpower or inspiration. - John Steinbeck. |
