Writing quotes
30.7K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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"One difference with the political writings, whether about feminism or class, is that the intent is to change how people think of a certain political reality; whereas with cultural criticism, the goal is to illuminate something that is already there."
"Part of why I have started writing about love is feeling that our culture is forgetting what Martin Luther King taught. We name more and more streets and schools after him but that's almost irrelevant, because what is to be remembered is that strength to love."
"Some people act as though art that is for a mass audience is not good art, and I think this has been a very negative thing. I know that I have wanted very much to write books that are accessible to the widest audience possible."
"You know, sometimes I get moments of inspiration when I'm writing something and then the task seems so daunting that it just kind of scares me away."
"I wanted to write some lyrics that had some meaning to them, lyrics that were meaningful to me and hopefully people can take something from that."
"I really didn't think about song writing."
"We really try to make sure that the band writes the songs, not just one person."
"I write heavily under the influence of James Taylor."
"I discovered John Truby ten years ago when a friend told me about his screenwriting course. I studied Truby's principles for a year and -- using them -- I wrote the first draft of The Thieves of Ostia in two weeks. I go back to his teachings before each new book I write. Each time I study Truby, I learn something new."
"The advice I have for new artists is this - write great songs and play them live as often as possible. Get residencies all over town and crush it."
"When I started writing at 18 or 19, I had a fear of anything autobiographical, but I've come to realise that my writing is very autobiographical at the emotional level."
"I like albums where all the songs are written in one go. If you're trying to create the number-one album with the best songs ever, I get why you'd want to write for three years and pick the best ones, but for me, I'd rather hear a group of songs that are all expressing a state, or time of your life. I think it's more that."
"To me one of the amazing technologies of writing is the way it can listen in on thoughts. I don't feel that that's natural to other art forms in the same way."
"I always, at least back then, struggled with emotion in writing. I felt like I could do odd, unusual things, but there wouldn't be enough feeling in them, and maybe if there's a progression at all to anything that I've done it's that I've always wanted to have a high - an almost overwhelming - degree of feeling in what I write."
"I work a lot in the summers. My family goes to Maine, where we have a little house. My wife's a writer, too, and we can write for six hours a day and then play with the kids."
"Teaching is all armchair. I learn about writing by writing and thinking about what I've written and throwing it away."
"The people around you are you. They share your history. They can even write it with you. And when you lose one, there's no doubt you lose some of yourself, however they're lost."
"The very best thing you can do is to try to write a song that has some sort of impact."
"Now that I believe in God, I have an extra layer of saying I'll write about what I write about and assume that I'm being offered the opportunity to illuminate something important. But when you think you are too important, you become some sort of fascist."
"Youll almost encounter a superstition amongst musicians, people sort of go through strange rituals, what they need to do to write a song."
