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Writing quotes

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“Paper has more patience than people.” Anne Frank, “The Diary of a Young Girl” - 1947

“There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.” Charles Dickens, “Oliver Twist” - 1838

“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” Francis Bacon, “The Essays of Francis Bacon” - 1597

“Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“You do not immortalize the lost by writing about them. Language buries, but does not resurrect.” John Green, “The Fault in Our Stars” - 2012

“To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.” Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick” - 1851

“I may be poor at reading and writing, but when it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich.” Muhammad Ali, “The Soul of a Butterfly” - 2004

“Words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly—they'll go through anything. You read and you're pierced.” Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” - 1932

“Certainly the Art of Writing is the most miraculous of all things man has devised.” Thomas Carlyle, “On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History” - 1841

“Lovers who love truly do not write down their happiness.” Anatole France, “The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard” - 1881

“You'll never be a writer if you hide from reality.” Charles Bukowski, “Ham on Rye” - 1982

“The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature to those of us who like to study people is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without hurting anyone and without humiliating himself too much.” Eleanor Roosevelt, “The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt” - 1961

“It just happens to be the way I'm made. I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them.” Haruki Murakami, “Norwegian Wood” - 1987

“Writing fiction, especially a long work of fiction, can be a difficult, lonely job; it’s like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub. There’s plenty of opportunity for self-doubt.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“Perhaps I write for no one. Perhaps for the same person children are writing for, when they scrawl their names in the snow.” Margaret Atwood, “The Blind Assassin” - 2000

“The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read.” Margaret Atwood, “The Blind Assassin” - 2000

“Writing is good, thinking is better.” Hermann Hesse, “Siddhartha” - 1922

“Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.” Rainer Maria Rilke, “Letters to a Young Poet” - 1929

“The rest of it—and perhaps the best of it—is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“I am too fond of reading books to care to write them” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it 'got boring,' the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“When asked, 'How do you write?' I invariably answer, 'One word at a time,' and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time,...” Stephen King, “The Stand” - 1978

“Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“I'm not a drug salesman. I'm a writer.” Kurt Vonnegut, “Cat's Cradle” - 1963

“If I knew words enough I could write you the longest love-letter in the world—and never get tired.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Flappers and Philosophers” - 1920

“Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“I’m one of those people who doesn’t really know what he thinks until he writes it down” Stephen King, “11/22/63” - 2011

“Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don’t have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“Writing is seduction. Good talk is part of seduction. If not so, why do so many couples who start the evening at dinner wind up in bed?” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“There's something happening every day, but I'm too tired and lazy to write it all down.” Anne Frank, “The Diary of a Young Girl” - 1947

“A little talent is a nice thing to have if you want to be a writer, but the only real requirement is that ability to remember the story of every scar.” Stephen King, “Misery” - 1987

“It’s hard for me to believe that people who read very little (or not at all in some cases) should presume to write and expect people to like what they have written” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“Let there be gall enough in thy ink; though thou write with a goose-pen, no matter.” William Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night” - 1623

“A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill.” Jane Austen, “Pride and Prejudice” - 28 January 1813

“Devise, wit; write, pen; for I am for whole volumes in folio.” William Shakespeare, “Love's Labour's Lost” - 1598

“When a man writes on a wall, his instinct leads him to write about the level of his own eyes.” Arthur Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet” - 1887

“She's brim full of poetry—actualized poetry, if I may use the expression. She LIVES what paper-poets only write...” Thomas Hardy, “Tess of the d'Urbervilles” - 1891

“The difference is slight, to the influence of an author, whether he is read by five hundred readers, or by five hundred thousand; if he can select the five hundred, he reaches the five hundred thousand.” Henry Adams, “The Education of Henry Adams” - 1906

“I only knew what was in my mind, and I wished to express it clearly, so that there could be no mistaking it.” Ulysses S. Grant, “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” - 1885

“Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with his blood. Write with blood, and thou wilt find that blood is spirit.” Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” - 1891

“I have always had more dread of a pen, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper, than of a sword or pistol.” Alexandre Dumas, “The Count of Monte Cristo” - 1845

“But then I realized that writing something is different from saying it—and that love stories are built around people’s idiosyncrasies.” Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story” - 2012

Related topics

reading truth books love words heart thinking author life understanding reality imagination story loneliness art poetry simplicity literature ideas creativity

Related authors

Stephen King (33)
Oscar Wilde (5)
Jane Austen (4)
William Shakespeare (2)
John Steinbeck (2)
Anne Frank (2)
Margaret Atwood (2)
Bob Dylan (2)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1)
Lewis Carroll (1)
George Orwell (1)
Herman Melville (1)
John Green (1)
Charles Dickens (1)
Muhammad Ali (1)
Arthur Conan Doyle (1)
Aldous Huxley (1)
Thomas Hardy (1)
Louisa May Alcott (1)
Thomas Carlyle (1)

Related sources

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (30)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (4)
Pride and Prejudice (2)
The Diary of a Young Girl (2)
The Blind Assassin (2)
Chronicles, Volume One (2)
Twelfth Night (1)
Love's Labour's Lost (1)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1)
1984 (1)
Moby-Dick (1)
The Fault in Our Stars (1)
Oliver Twist (1)
The Soul of a Butterfly (1)
A Study in Scarlet (1)
Brave New World (1)
Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1)
Little Women (1)
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History (1)
The Education of Henry Adams (1)

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Stephen King quotes about writing · On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft quotes about writing