"You have to give people something to actually write music so that you're not just running your mouth all the time."
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Writing quotes
Writing
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Writing quotes (page 112 of 1537)
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"The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader."
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"If you're going to write something, that's going to be read by people, a lot of people, you hope it will not only entertain them but maybe do them some good in some way."
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"When I suffer in mind, stories are my refuge; I take them like opium; and consider one who writes them as a sort of doctor of the mind."
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"A novel is a mirror carried along a main road."
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"Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings."
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"The idea that creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time."
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"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?"
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"You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you."
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"When you write, you want to get rid of the world, don’t you? Of course you do. When you’re writing, you’re creating your own worlds."
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"A short story is a different thing all together - a short story is like a kiss in the dark from a stranger."
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"Like anything else that happens on its own, the act of writing is beyond currency. Money is great stuff to have, but when it comes to the act of creation, the best thing is not to think of money too much. It constipates the whole process."
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"The first is that good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals (vocabulary, grammar, the elements of style) and then filling the third level of your toolbox with the right instruments. The second is that while it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one"
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"The great thing about writing is that...you can do all these antisocial things and you get paid for them and nobody ever arrests you because they're all make-believe. Then that way if you were actually ever driven to do any of those things, the pressure's off because you'd have already written them down. It's therapy."
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"I take editing seriously. It's a joy to edit. I always hand a manuscript to several editors and can't wait to get back their notes and see what they've said. I don't criticize myself for making blunders here and there, because it's just natural. You write in chunks, and you may not remember that that sentence you wrote yesterday had the same word repeated three times. I do enjoy that. I love the feeling of repairing. Repairing is really nice."
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"If any refuse to obey the common laws and orders of the ship concerning their common peace or preservation; if any shall mutiny or rise up against their commanders and officers; if any should preach or write that there should be no commanders or officers because all are equal in Christ, therefore no master or officers, no laws nor orders, nor corrections nor punishments - I say I never denied that in such cases, the commander may judge, resist, compel, and punish such transgressors according to their deserts and merits."
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"If you had a million Shakespeares, could they write like a monkey?"
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"But there's nothing that gives me more thrill than when I'm writing and a couplet works. I find the right rhyme, or it's just perfect. There's nothing that exciting."
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"The writer is either a practicing recluse or a delinquent, guilt-ridden one--or both. Usually both."
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"God writes spiritual Mysteries on our heart, where they wait silently for discovery."
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