"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut".
—Stephen King
"Writing is nature’s way of letting you know how sloppy your thinking is”
― Dick Guindon
“I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing—to be clear. I have given up all thought of writing poetically or symbolically or experimentally, or in any of the other modes that might (if I were good enough) get me a Pulitzer prize. I would write merely clearly and in this way establish a warm relationship between myself and my readers, and the professional critics—Well, they can do whatever they wish.”
—Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)
“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.”
― George Orwell (1903-1950)
“The task of a writer is not to solve the problem but to state the problem correctly.”
― Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)
“Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.”
― T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
“As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand.”
― Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
“Everywhere I go I’m asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them.”
– Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964)
“The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
“Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43BC)
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
“Writing is therapeutic. It helps you cope with issues that seem gargantuan at the time.
The process of expressing yourself about a problem, editing your thoughts, and writing some more can help you control issues that you face.”
― Guy Kawasaki
“I write to discover what I think”
― Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004)
"Det er ingen mangel ved en tekst at den er forståelig og ikke er klønete."
—Per Egil Hegge
“One should use common words to say uncommon things.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
“Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”
—Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)
"Råd til en forfatter: Du må lage buljongterninger av suppe."
—Per Fugelli
"Write drunk; edit sober."
― Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
“If you care about being thought credible and intelligent, do not use complex language where simpler language will do.”
― Daniel Kahneman
“If you wish to be a writer, write.”
― Epictetus (55-135)
"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity."
— George Orwell (1903-1950)
"For a creative writer possession of the truth is less important than emotional sincerity."
— George Orwell (1903-1950)
“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
“Well, you know when people are no good at anything else they become writers.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
“We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
“The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
“The best style is the style you don't notice.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
“we do not write as we want but as we can”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.”
—Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
“I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous; that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream.”
—Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)
“Writing, when properly managed (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713-1768)
“My theory of writing I can sum up in one sentence. An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever after.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“For those who have tasted the profound activity of writing, reading is no more than a secondary pleasure.”
—Stendhal (1783-1842)
“Many suffer from the incurable disease of writing, and it becomes chronic in their sick minds.”
—Juvenal (ca. 1st century)
“The artist, and particularly the poet, is always an anarchist in the best sense of the word. He must heed only the call that arises within him from three strong voices: the voice of death, with all its foreboding, the voice of love and the voice of art.”
—Federico Garcia Lorca (1898–1936)
“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“My congratulations to you, sir. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"Writing is not a serious business. It’s a joy and a celebration. You should be having fun with it."
― Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)
“Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. The English reading public explains the reason why.”
— James Joyce (1882-1941)
"The important thing is not what we write but how we write, and in my opinion the modern writer must be an adventurer above all, willing to take every risk, and be prepared to founder in his effort if need be. In other words we must write dangerously."
— James Joyce (1882-1941)
"Overhodet kan det ikke ansees som nogen ulykke, om en far eller bedstefar uten større anstøt kan læse, hvad hans søn eller sønnesøn har skrevet"
— John Brynhildsen (1852-1926)