Quotes About Authorship

I always assume that a good book is more intelligent than its author. It can say things that the writer isn't aware of.

I wrote a novel because I had a yen to do it. I believe this is sufficient reason to set out to tell a story.

El autor debería morirse después de haber escrito su obra. Para allanarle el camino al texto.

luther, he ruined the bible by translating it into their own language.

Não pertenço àquela laia de maus escritores que dizem escrever apenas para si mesmos. As únicas coisas que os autores escrevem para si próprios são listas de compras, que os ajudam a lembrar-se do que precisam adquirir, e podem ser descartadas. Tudo o mais, incluindo o rol de roupas para lavar, são mensagens endereçadas a outrem. Não são monólogos, mas diálogos.

qué influencia tuvieron Gemma sobre Dante o Helena sobre Descartes, por no hablar de las muchísimas esposas que la historia ignora? ¿Y si todas las obras de Aristóteles en realidad las hubiera escrito su esposa Erpilis? Nunca lo sabremos. La historia, escrita por los maridos, ha condenado a las esposas al anonimato.

I began writing in March of 1978, prodded by a seminal idea: I felt like poisoning a monk.

Querido muchacho —dijo—, este que aquí ves es un pobre franciscano, que con sus modestos conocimientos y el poco de habilidad que debe a la infinita potencia del Señor ha logrado descifrar en pocas horas una escritura secreta cuyo autor estaba convencido de ser el único capaz de descifrar...¿Y tú, miserable bribón, eres tan ignorante como para atreverte a decir que estamos igual que al principio?

As an ancient proverb says, three fingers hold the pen, but the whole body works. And aches. -Adso of Melk

Yazar, yazd?ktan sonra ölmelidir. Metnin gidiÅŸini bozmamak için.

The state might say that it had taken a year to write the book, and the author might say it had taken thirty. Goethe said that every bon mot of his had cost a purse of gold. What

Le livre, comme livre, appartient à l'auteur, mais comme pensée, il appartient -le mot n'est pas trop vaste- au genre humain. Toutes les intelligences y ont droit. Si l'un des deux droits, le droit de l'écrivain et le droit de l'esprit humain, devait être sacrifié, ce serait, certes, le droit de l'écrivain, car l'intérêt public est notre préoccupation unique, et tous, je le déclare, doivent passer avant nous.

You never know if a book is going to succeed or fail, so what matters ultimately is how you feel about it and whether you, the author, are willing to bet the farm on this novel.

Like Elmore Leonard and Donald Westlake and Robert B. Parker and oh so many others, I want to die with my boots on, facedown on my keyboard if possible, in the middle of a sentence.

Write. Publish. Repeat.

There is no mistaking the dismay on the face of a writer who has just learned that his brain child is a deformed idiot.

The same common-sense which makes an author write good things, makes him dread they are not good enough to deserve reading.

To express truth is to write naturally, forcibly, and delicately.

He who only writes to suit the taste of the age, considers himself more than his writings. We should always aim at perfection, and then posterity will do us that justice which sometimes our contemporaries refuse us.

We love much better those who endeavor to imitate us, than those who strive to equal us. For imitation is a sign of esteem, but competition of envy.

lacordaire henri dominique

A tale is a funny thing, and even when it's your own and you have a quill in your hand you must be careful where you touch it.

I can scarce bring myself to believe, that I am admitted to a familiar correspondence, and all the license of friendship, with a man who writes blank verse like Milton.

After you have done your work—challenging as it may have been to complete—and released it in the marketplace, be not concerned with sales, reviews, critical acclaim, or anything else of the like... After you've written and published a book, you're now an AUTHOR. And that great honor can NEVER be taken away from you, no matter what.