"Assuming you can write clear English sentences, give up all worry about communication. If you want to communicate, use the telephone."
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Writing quotes
Writing
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Writing quotes (page 130 of 1537)
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"I am in the Master of Professional Writing program teaching Humor Writing, Literary and Dramatic."
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"As the writer, you're always a presence in the song. If you get close to what human beings are like, you're writing about common experience. We all do much the same things, so if you nail somebody, then you've also nailed yourself."
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"I think it's absolutely possible to write a song and go somewhere where no one's been before, uncharted territory. In terms of content, I see limitations where there should be none. I know there are things I wouldn't write about, but that shouldn't be the case. You should be able to make a song out of anything, out of any situation."
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"My challenge is to make sure the things I say and the things I do remain consistent for as often and as long as possible. My why is to inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that together we can change our world. That's why I wake up every single day. I'm agnostic to the form it takes: I teach, I write, I speak, I advise."
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"Writing ... is a profession that can only be learned by writing."
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"I'm afraid of coaching, of writer's classes, of writer's magazines, of books on how to write. They give me centipede trouble - you know the yarn about the centipede who was asked how he managed all his feet? He tried to answer, stopped to think about it, and was never able to walk another step."
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"I write from a thorough conviction that it is the duty of me, and with the belief that, after every drawback and shortcoming, I do my best, all things considered--that is for me, and, so being, the not being listened to by one human creature would, I hope, in nowise affect me."
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"The invention of writing will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom."
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"Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down."
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"I've always wanted to make music like people write plays, so I was inspired by writers as much as musicians."
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"Today, for a Jew who writes in the German language, it is totally impossible to make a living. In no group do I see as much misery, disappointment, desperation and hopelessness as in Jewish writers who write in German."
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"It's immoral that people make money out of writing crap, but I try not to obsess about it. I don't want to spend my life being angry."
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"Writing distills, crystallizes, and clarifies thought."
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"Someone told me that each equation I included in the book would halve the sales."
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"I'm not a great deductive thinker, but I will admit to having competence in a very wide range of things - not being afraid to try to write about baseball, choral music and dinosaurs in the same week and see connections among them."
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"I have never felt like I was creating anything. For me, writing is like walking through a desert and all at once, poking up through the hardpan, I see the top of a chimney. I know there's a house under there, and I'm pretty sure that I can dig it up if I want. That's how I feel. It's like the stories are already there. What they pay me for is the leap of faith that says: 'If I sit down and do this, everything will come out okay.'"
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"This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit."
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"Read a lot, write a lot is the great commandment."
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"Rewrite formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft - 10%."
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