Quotes About Authorship

Great books write themselves, only bad books have to be written.

Most of my success, I feel, comes from being a good editor as opposed to a great writer.

My father was a frustrated writer. I think he wanted to write the great American novel.

Lizzy Weiss is such a great writer, and she really writes for the performances.

A great writer has all 4 - but you can still be a good writer with only 1 and 2.

All great writers begin with a good leather binding and a respectable title.

A creative writing program is only as good as its teachers, and I was fortunate in having two great writers as mentors.

The great words never die... and so does the soul of its author.

The real trouble with the writing game is that no general rule can be worked out for uniform guidance, and this applies to sales as well as to writing.

Advice for a long and happy life - never tell a writer you have fixed their work. Ever.

If I can write a book that will help the world make a little more sense to a teen, then that's why I was put on the planet.

The fact is, unlike a lot of writers, I credit the people who help me. A lot of writers out there have a ton of researchers and they don't get credited in the book.

I am not a chess historian - I myself am a piece of chess history, which no one can avoid. I will not write about myself, but I am sure that someone will write.

History is a story written by the finger of God.

Do not applaud me. It is not I who speaks to you, but history which speaks through my mouth. Fustel de

I have written too much history to have faith in it; and if anyone thinks I'm wrong, I am inclined to agree with him.

From lies to forgeries the step is not so long, and I have written technical essays on the logic of forgeries and on the influence of forgeries on history.

I think that every so-called history book and film biography should be prefaced by the statement that what follows is the author's rendition of events and circumstances.

I'm not looking to write the great American novel, win a Pulitzer or teach history. I write to entertain my readers.

I think history is collective memories. In writing, I'm using my own memory, and I'm using my collective memory.

History is sympathetic to its authors.

The only good histories are those that have been written by the persons themselves who commanded in the affairs whereof they write.

Any fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it.

History is something that never happened written by a man who wasn't there.