Writing quotes

Writing

30.7K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

30.7K quotes

Explore further

Browse quotes that often appear alongside writing — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.

Thinking 95.1K quotes Book 21K quotes Song 10.7K quotes People 100.4K quotes Character 14.8K quotes Reading 6.6K quotes

Quote collection

Writing quotes (page 21 of 1537)

Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.

Writing

"Books are the windows of the truth, but they are not the door; they point out things and yet they do not impart them. It is within that we should write, think, and speak, not merely on paper."

Thinking Writing Book
Read quote 40 likes
Writing

"All the youth now in England of free men, who are rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set to learn as long as they are not fit for any other occupation, until they are able to read English writing well."

Men Writing Education
Read quote 39 likes
Anton Chekhov Playwright, Short Story Writer
Writing

"Cross out as many adjectives and adverbs as you can. ... It is comprehensible when I write: "The man sat on the grass," because it is clear and does not detain one's attention. On the other hand, it is difficult to figure out and hard on the brain if I write: "The tall, narrow-chested man of medium height and with a red beard sat down on the green grass that had already been trampled down by the pedestrians, sat down silently, looking around timidly and fearfully." The brain can't grasp all that at once, and art must be grasped at once, instantaneously."

Men Writing Art
Read quote 39 likes
Octavia Butler Author, Novelist
Writing

"You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence."

Thinking Writing Persistence
Read quote 39 likes
Ernest Hemingway Novelist
Writing

"Find what gave you emotion; what the action was that gave you excitement. Then write it down making it clear so that the reader can see it too. Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and the Baroque is over."

Writing Action Emotion
Read quote 38 likes
Clarice Lispector Novelist, Short Story Writer
Writing

"I have grown weary of literature: silence alone comforts me. If I continue to write, it’s because I have nothing more to accomplish in this world except to wait for death. Searching for the word in darkness. Any little success invades me and puts me in full view of everyone. I long to wallow in the mud. I can scarcely control my need for self-abasement, my craving for licentiousness and debauchery. Sin tempts me, forbidden pleasures lure me. I want to be both pig and hen, then kill them and drink their blood."

Writing Self Pigs
Read quote 38 likes
Stephen King Author
Writing

"If you're just starting out as a writer, you could do worse than strip your television's electric plug-wire, wrap a spike around it, and then stick it back into the wall. See what blows, and how far. Just an idea."

Writing Wall Kings
Read quote 38 likes
Orhan Pamuk Novelist, Screenwriter
Writing

"A writer is someone who spends years patiently trying to discover the second being inside him, and the world that makes him who he is: when I speak of writing, what comes first to my mind is not a novel, a poem, or literary tradition, it is a person who shuts himself up in a room, sits down at a table, and alone, turns inward; amid its shadows, he builds a new world with words."

Writing Years Mind
Read quote 38 likes
Fran Lebowitz Author, Essayist
Writing

"While clothes with pictures and/or writing on them are not entirely an invention of the modern age, they are an unpleasant indication of the general state of things. ... I mean, be realistic. If people don't want to listen to you, what makes you think they want to hear from your sweater?"

Thinking Writing Mean
Read quote 38 likes