Thursday, October 14, 2010

Cool Writing Quotes

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There are lots of cool quotes, but writing quotes are ultra-cool because they're written by, well, writers! Here are some I like:
  • How many normal people do you know who would work 80 to 100 hours a week, 7 days a week, with no benefits, for 2 paychecks a year, and not know the amount of the checks until the publisher decides to send a statement?----Joe Moore
  • Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.----Apostle John
  • I hated childhood, and spent it sitting behind a book waiting for adulthood to arrive.----Anne Tyler
  • When you write, you lay out a line of words. The line of words is a miner's pick, a woodcarver's gouge, a surgeon's probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow....Is it a dead end, or have you located the real subject? You will know tomorrow, or this time next year.----Annie Dillard
  • My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.----Sons of Korah
  • One sign of the born writer is his gift for finding or (sometimes) inventing authentically interesting language....He's interested in discovering the secrets words carry--for instance, how "discover" means "to take the cover off of."----John Gardner
  • There is something in us, as storytellers and as listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls at least be offered the chance to be restored.----Flannery O'Connor
  • Of making many books there is no end.----King Solomon
  • Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.----Jane Austen
  • A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.----Thomas Mann
  • If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.----Goethe
  • Why do writers write? Because it isn't there.----Thomas Berger
I'm not a collector, but I could almost become a quote collector. What are your favorites?

7 comments:

Bish Denham said...

I collect all kinds of quotes. Here are two of my favorites:

You can't wait for inspiration you have to go after it with a club. Jack London


Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. John Steinbeck

Vijaya said...

Loved these, Marcia, esp. Gardner's and O'Connor's.

I also derive great inspiration from others. Some of my faves:

Discipline is freedom. Garth Fagan.

Work is love made visible. Khalil Gibran.

Here's a link to some voices I need to hear often: http://www.vijayabodach.com/For_Writers.htm

Marcia said...

Bish -- Not a passive guy, is London? And I like Steinbeck's view of ideas. Quite reassuring, actually.

Vijaya -- Some people are so quotable, and Gardner and O'Connor fall into that group. Yours are terrific; I love the power in the brevity. And discipline IS freedom!

Andrea Mack said...

Great quotes, Marcia! The Thomas Mann quote stands out for me -- especially as I struggle through my novel revisions!

Marcia said...

Andrea, I really like Mann's too. It's so true!

Mary Witzl said...

I LOVE that Thomas Mann quote. Before I actually pushed myself to write, I imagined that I was a writer because I could churn out prose. It is true that writers should enjoy writing. But I've come to see that a writer shouldn't find the process effortless -- they should find it a challenge, each word carefully weighed chosen.

That first quote is great too and I'm glad to have found it -- thank you. Whenever someone tells me that they'd love to be able to waste their days sitting around and writing just like me, I'll be sure to quote Joe Moore.

Marcia said...

I did the same thing, Mary -- see myself as a writer because before I took it seriously it just poured out of me. I hope you'll get a chance to use the Joe Moore quote soon; I'd like to hear how that goes. :)