Quotes About Writers

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.

Asking a working writer what he feels about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.

Here's a quick rule of thumb: Don't annoy science fiction writers. These are people who destroy entire planets before lunch. Think of what they'll do to you.

else desirable, he confounded all disinterested feelings which he found in himself, with the desire of ggeneralg happiness: just as some religious writers, who loved virtue for its own sake as much perhaps as men could do, habitually confounded their love of virtue with their fear of hell.

Home base is the support system where we have a culinary team, my own writers because of the shows and the books and stuff, we have a culinary team of about six people. Marketing, public relations, accounting and all that sort of stuff.

We writers are shy, nocturnal creatures. Push us into the light and the light blinds us.

This is a problem for Irish writers--our literary forebears are enormous. They stand behind us like Easter Island statues, and we keep trying to measure up to them, leaping towards heights we can't possibly reach. I suppose that's a good thing, but it makes for a painful early life for the writer.

I'm so glad you write happy endings,' said Mabel. 'After all, life isn't really so unpleasant as some writers make out, is it? she added hopefully. 'No, perhaps not. It's comic and sad and indefinite—dull, sometimes, but seldom really tragic or deliriously happy, except when one's very young.

I found out about reviews early on. They're mostly written by sad men on bad afternoons. That's probably why I'm less angry than some writers, who are so narcissistic they consider every line of every review, even a thoughtful one, as major treason.

Writers in this country, particularly novelists, are likely to come to the medium through some back door. Nearly every writer I know was going to be something else, and then found himself writing by a kind of passionate default.

One of the reasons I like Barthes more than other writers of that ilk is because he had a literary quality.

In 'Law & Order,' your main job is to stay out of the way of the plot. On another show you'd receive your script and see stuff that seems challenging and feel excited that the writers thought highly enough of you to write it for you.

Most writers of entertainment fiction tend to receive controversial reviews.

All of the great writers whom I admire have died. I guess the most recent one would be Marquez.

I actually don't read the press. All the writers I admire were significantly reclusive, and I'm still trying to figure out how they got to a place where they didn't have to talk to press.

There is a very conservative element of crime writers that don't recognise what I do is crime fiction.

I have some friends, most of them are writers or editors, whose recommendations I trust blindly. There are some critics, too, whom I trust, but not many.

When I came to Nashville, I was sort of experimenting with a new identity, experimenting with the country world and country writers. I realized I needed to take a step back from that, to be true to some of the music I've been doing over the years and to put that into the world before I move forward and redefine myself again.

Actors and writers need to come back to the theater because it's a place where you can learn. You have to pay your dues, and people who haven't paid their dues in the theater, I think, have a hard time creating a whole career.

Every once in a while I get a fan letter from someone about thinking he or she saw me in an episode of an old western or police series. The writers are probably right.

I know all actors are different, but I've never sat down and asked the writers, 'Where are we headed? Am I good or bad?'

I really like writing television, and I like the collaborative writers room feeling. It's ten people, and you're together every day laughing your heads off.

I care about actors, and I understand them in a very personal way. I'm not saying every writer has to do that, but in my case, it's been helpful. I can put myself into the scene and think, 'What would it be like to act this?' Any writer who's really good probably does that to some extent.

I have so many favorite writers, it's very hard to select a few... of classic writers, I have always admired Emily Dickinson and Henry David Thoreau.