Quotes About Writing

If a writer manages to be fascinating about his own novels, then there are only two possibilities: either he is merely voicing out loud what he wrote in his book, and he is a parrot; or he is explaining interesting things that he didn't discuss in his book, in which case the book in question is a failure since it does not live up to its claims.

I found out that the question was not 'am I good enough to write?', because of course I am not. The question was, 'am I able to live without writing?'. It is the only question.

De acuerdo que la gramática es esencial, pero sólo si tiene como objeto la escritura: privada de su objetivo, se convierte en un código estéril.

La scrittura comincia là dove si ferma la parola, ed è un grande mistero il passaggio dall'indicibile al dicibile.

I libri scritti per pura bontà sono rarissimi. Sono opere che si creano in abiezione e in solitudine, ben sapendo che dopo averle scagliate in faccia al mondo si sarà ancora più soli e più abietti. È normale, la principale caratteristica della gentilezza disinteressata è di essere irriconoscibile, inconoscibile, invisibile, insospettabile, perché un beneficio che dica il suo nome non è mai disinteressato.

Qu'est-ce que le texte, sinon un gigantesque cartilage verbal?

N'est-il pas réconfortant, pour un vrai, un pur, un grand, un génial écrivain comme moi, de savoir que personne ne me lit ? Que personne ne souille de son regard trivial les beautés auxquelles j'ai donné naissance dans le secret de mes tréfonds et de ma solitude ?

J'ai beau savoir qu'écrire est dangereux et qu'on y risque sa vie, je m'y laisse toujours prendre.

Aussi je me permets de vous demander quelles sont les pensées et les humeurs d'un grand écrivain qui se sait sur le point de mourir. Silence. Soupir. - Je ne sais pas, monsieur. - Vous ne savez pas? - Si je savais à quoi je pensais, je suppose que je ne serais pas devenu écrivain. - Vous voulez dire que vous écrivez pour savoir enfin à quoi vous pensez? - C'est possible. Je ne sais plus très bien, je n'ai plus écrit depuis si longtemps.

Las cartas de amor se escriben empezando sin saber lo que se va a decir, y se terminan sin saber lo que se ha dicho. –Jean Jacques Rousseau

Largely this is a class thing - writers tend to be cosseted little middle-class kiddies who think that the world owes them a royalty cheque. But just doing it - being in your room for years on end, locked in your head, alone with invented ghosts - it weakens and softens the body. And I know I can't just live in my head.

You have to look at the value of different kinds of words. Adjectives weaken, and adverbs come even farther down the line. Verbs are strong; verbs and nouns.

Usually I write about what I care about, which is a weakness but I think also a strength.

I have this horrible weakness. I fall in love with my characters. 'Suspect' started as a one-shot, but I just love Maggie so much, and I love Maggie and Scott and what they have going.

When I write in Italian - this is just the metaphor that came to me immediately, and I really think this is what it is - I feel like I'm writing with my left hand. Because of that weakness, there is this enormous freedom that comes with it.

It seems to me the big weakness in most films is the writing. You can learn directing, but you can't learn writing.

When you are developing your style, you avoid weaknesses. I am not good at describing things, so I stay away from it. And if anyone is going to describe anything at all, it's going to be from the point of view of the character, because then I can use his voice, and his attitude will be revealed in the way he describes what he sees.

After so many books and so many years of writing, I have a good idea of my strengths and weaknesses. I love the process of writing and, if I allowed myself, I would write far too much every day. One weakness which I've struggled to overcome is my tendency to having my characters ruminate for pages.

I always write to understand my place in the world. I can see myself and my life unfold on the page, and I can understand my strengths, my weaknesses - I can see where I need to step up a bit.

I have strengths, and I have weaknesses. I don't pretend to be able to write a great thesis or doctorate - I have no pretensions in that direction.

I would be a terrible director, I could never write anything. One of my great strengths is that I know all of my weaknesses.

It's that beautiful thing to love your weaknesses, your insecurities, and then put them all on blast. That's why I started writing, and that's why it was so hard to do it in public.

I attended school regularly for three years. I learned to read and write. 'Lamb's Tales' from Shakespeare was my favourite reading matter. I stole, by finding, Palgrave's 'Golden Treasury.' These two books, and the 'Everyman' edition of John Keats, were my proudest and dearest possessions, my greatest wealth.

Book sales and teens reading is always a fantastic thing, but we should also be celebrating and consuming the huge wealth of U.K. and U.K.-based writing and illustrating talent. Authors such as Charlie Higson, Darren Shan, Holly Smale, Tanya Byrne, Catherine Johnson, Sophie Mckenzie, to name but a few.