Writing Quotes of the Day

“Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn't matter. I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book; if art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for?”—Alice Walker

“Beware of self-indulgence. The romance surrounding the writing profession carries several myths: that one must suffer in order to be creative; that one must be cantankerous and objectionable in order to be bright; that ego is paramount over skill; that one can rise to a level from which one can tell the reader to go to hell. These myths, if believed, can ruin you. If you believe you can make a living as a writer, you already have enough ego.”—David Brin

“Never throw up on an editor.”—Ellen Datlow

“I try to let whatever's coming just flood its way out, and then I deal with the mess later. I like mess. You can find a lot of good nuggets in the junkyard.”—Thisbe Nissen

“The job of the poet (a job which can't be learned) consists of placing those objects of the visible world which have become invisible due to the glue of habit, in an unusual position which strikes the soul and gives them a tragic force.”—Jean Cocteau

“I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first drafts. But I'm one of the world's great rewriters.”—James A. Michener

“Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators.”—Olin Miller

“Anecdotes don't make good stories. Generally I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about.”—Alice Munro

“Without a reader, I cannot write. It's like a kiss: they cannot be done alone.”—John Cheever

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”—Goethe