Quotes About Writing

You really don't understand the first thing about writing...for one thing, early in the morning is the worst possible time. the brain is like a wet sponge at that hour. And for another, real writing is a question of staring into space and waiting for the right ideas.

As Mo had said: writing stories is a kind of magic, too.

The written word is a powerful thing, you have to be careful with it. - Silvertongue

I will try to write books until I drop dead.

Mai prima di allora, però, aveva incontrato qualcuno che scriveva le frasi che ne riempivano le pagine. Persino di alcuni dei suoi libri preferiti non sapeva nemmeno il nome dell'autore, né tanto meno aveva idea di che aspetto avesse. Sempre e solo i personaggi scaturiti da quelle magiche parole aveva visto con gli occhi della fantasia, mai chi stava dietro, chi li aveva inventati.

Da dove devo cominciare? Intanto, va chiarita subito una cosa fondamentale: un romanziere non scrive mai tutto quello che sa sui suoi personaggi. I lettori non devono venire a sapere tutto. Alcuni aspetti è meglio che restino un segreto fra lo scrittore e le sue creature.

Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island … I take up my pen in the year of grace 17__, and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn, and the brown old seaman, with the sabre cut, first took up his lodging under our roof. Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

That was the trouble with writing, there were such an infinite number of turns the story could take. How were you to know which one was right?

Real writing is a question of staring into space and waiting for the right ideas.

The strongest memory is weaker than the palest ink. Chinese proverb, Die Weisse und die Schwarze Kunst

You want me to write something about him? Heavens, it was confusing enough when I had only my own characters to worry about!

For one thing, early in the morning is the worst possible time. The brain is like a wet sponge at that hour. And for another, real writing is a question of staring into space and waiting for the right ideas.

We make for your sake such things as stand fast, Through the ages these pages forever will last. On blank paper the printer sets down what is heard Giving life to what's rife with the power of the word. Michael Kongehl, 'On the White Art', Die Weisse und die Schwarze Kunst

And these hands here don't want to write anymore! I'm afraid of words, Meggie! Once they were like honey, now they're poison, pure poison! But what is a writer who doesn't love words anymore? What have I come to? This story is devouring me, crushing me, and I'm its creator!

All words are written in the same ink, 'flower' and 'power', say, are much the same, and though I might write 'blood, blood, blood' all over the page the paper would not be stained nor would I bleed. Philippe Jacottet, 'Chant d'en bas

do not dare, I do not dare to write it, if you die. Pablo Neruda, "The Dead Woman," The Captain's

I do not dare, I do not dare to write it, if you die. Pablo Neruda, "The Dead Woman," The Captain's Verses

Non c'è niente che sappia consolare meglio di qualche pagina ben scritta quando sei lontano da casa, vero?

For me -- for pretty much every writer -- the big problem isn't piracy, it's obscurity.

Given that Luke's prologue (1:1-4) closely resembles other Greco-Roman prefaces in which a patron's name is mentioned, Theophilus is most likely a well-to-do Greek who funded Luke's writing project.

there was a different way I wrote when, even subconsciously, I was seeking male approval, male sexual approval: a more coy way, more reserved, more nervous about being perceived as angry or vulgar.

I don't get why you'd write scripts for romantic comedies if you think romance is cheesy nonsense." "That's just it, though," I said. "I don't write from a point of clarity. I write out of confusion.

You don't need anyone else's approval or permission to enjoy the magic of writing.

To be a good writer, become a good listener.