Writing quotes

Writing

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

30.7K quotes

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Writing quotes (page 261 of 1537)

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Chinua Achebe Novelist, Poet
Writing

"What really worries me is that those who are in positions of power are not really affected by what we are writing. In the moral dialogue you want to start, you really want to involve the leaders. People ask me: "Why were you so bold as to publish A Man of the People? How did you think the Government was going to take it? You didn't know there was going to be a coup?" I said rather flippantly that nobody was going to read it anyway, so I wasn't likely to be fired from my official position. It's a distressing thought that we cannot engage our leaders in the kind of moral debate we need."

Thinking Men Writing
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Chinua Achebe Novelist, Poet
Writing

"There's no lack of writers writing novels in America, about America. Therefore, it seems to me it would be wasteful for me to add to that huge number of people writing here when there are so few people writing about somewhere else."

Writing Numbers Somewhere Else
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Chinua Achebe Novelist, Poet
Writing

"Writing has always been a serious business for me. I felt it was a moral obligation. A major concern of the time was the absence of the African voice. Being part of that dialogue meant not only sitting at the table but effectively telling the African story from an African perspective - in full earshot of the world."

Writing Voice Perspective
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Chinua Achebe Novelist, Poet
Writing

"The writer is often faced with two choices--turn away from the reality of life's intimidating complexity or conquer its mystery by battling with it. The writer who chooses the former soon runs out of energy and produces elegantly tired fiction."

Writing Running Tired
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Chinua Achebe Novelist, Poet
Writing

"I think dialects should be left alone. People should write in whatever dialect they feel they want to write. In the fullness of time, these dialects will sort themselves out."

People Thinking Writing
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Chinua Achebe Novelist, Poet
Writing

"To the question of writing at all we have sometimes been counselled to forget it, or rather the writing of books. What is required, we are told, is plays and films. Books are out of date! The book is dead, long live television! One question which is not even raised let alone considered is: Who will write the drama and film scripts when the generation that can read and write has been used up?"

Writing Book Drama
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Chinua Achebe Novelist, Poet
Writing

"Many writers can't make a living. So to be able to teach how to write is valuable to them. But I don't really know about its value to the student. I don't mean it's useless. But I wouldn't have wanted anyone to teach me how to write."

Writing Mean Able
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Chinua Achebe Novelist, Poet
Writing

"It is not quite true to say that I am not an advocate of writing in African languages. What I think is, one has to think about what is practicable."

Thinking Writing Language
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Chinua Achebe Novelist, Poet
Writing

"I am not an early-morning person; I don't like to get out of bed, and so I don't begin writing at five A.M., though some people, I hear, do. I write once my day has started. And I can work late into the night, also."

Writing Night Morning
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Chris Rock Comedian, Actor, Writer
Writing

"Success is just hanging out with my kids. I mean, I always say if you have options, you're rich. To me, success is the fact that hey, I just did a movie and maybe I'll do some stand up, maybe I'll will write a book or maybe I will do a play."

Writing Mean Book
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Chris Rock Comedian, Actor, Writer
Writing

"I always say about my daughters, they save me from my miserable self. They take me out, you know, a comedian, you could live in your head a lot. And you're writing and you're doubting. But when I'm with my kids and my family, it's all about them."

Writing Mother Daughter
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Chris Rock Comedian, Actor, Writer
Writing

"The thing about having an audience right there laughing is that critics can write what they want, but the proof is right there in front of you."

Writing Want Laughing
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Chris Rock Comedian, Actor, Writer
Writing

"You can write a great country record and still be angry. Who's angrier than Toby Keith? He's angrier than the average 10 rappers."

Writing Country Rapper
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Writing

"I think all those years that I spent as a nurse, from the age of seventeen, just allowed me an insight into human emotion at those times of life when it's so important. And to see and witness those times of grief and love and loss and all those things was such a huge privilege, both in my own personal life, but it also, I think, spills over into my writing. I think the one thing that most novelists have is some degree of emotional intelligence, and if you don't have that, then perhaps you might struggle to be a novelist, because that has to come out somewhere."

Writing Struggle Grief
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