Quotes About Revision

Nothing you write, if you hope to be good, will ever come out as you first hoped.

I try to be as ruthless as possible. I ask myself of each sentence, "Is it clear? Is it true? Does it feel good?" And if it's not, then I rewrite it.

The good thing about animation is that you can affect it. If something is not working, then you just fix it.

Disorganizatio n is the enemy of good writing.

If you're writing a screenplay, you need to be prepared to let go: there's a good chance the words you write aren't going to be the ones that end up on screen.

Good stories are not written. They are rewritten.

There is no such thing as great writing - there is only great re-writing!

There is no great writing, only great rewriting.

I'm not a great writer. I'm a great rewriter.

The great art of writing is knowing when to stop.

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

You'll learn that the key to a great book is editing-grindin g, buffing, and polishing-not writing.

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

We ought not to endeavor to revise history according to our latter day notions of what things ought to have been, or upon the theory that the past is simply a reflection of the present

Every age cuts and pastes history to suit its own purposes; art always has an ax to grind.

Skepticism is an important historical tool. It is the starting point of all revision of hitherto accepted history.

The past in the hands of historians is not what it was.

Every new generation must rewrite history in its own way.

I like to imagine the "what ifs" of history.

Often you must turn your stylus to erase, if you hope to write anything worth a second reading.

Methods and conclusions formed by half the race only, must necessarily require revision as the other half of humanity rises into conscious responsibility.

I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it in summer school

Writing is like making love, editing is like giving your great grandfather a sponge bath.