100+ Book Writing Quotes | InspiringQuotes.us

source: Quoted in Reader's Digest, Sept. 1949. According to Nigel Rees, Cassell's Humorous Quotations, the following appeared in Punch in 1924: " 'It took me nearly ten years to learn that I couldn't write.' 'I suppose you gave it up then?' 'Oh, no! By that time I had a reputation established.' " The issue referred to by Rees is 6 Feb., and the cartoonist is R. Curry.

topic: Time, Work, Writing, Inspiration To Write, Successful Writing

A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.

- Richard Bach

topic: Perseverance, Writing, Quitting, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Jonathan Seagull

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 a book.

- Samuel Johnson

topic: Time, Powerful, Book, Library Research, Inspiring Writing

Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

- Oscar Wilde

topic: Book, Literature, Wells, Great Writing, Libraries Books And Reading

I've always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties.

- Agatha Christie

topic: Believe, Book, Memorable, Book Writing, Collaborators

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.

- Oscar Wilde

topic: Book, Reading, Writing, Great Writing, Libraries Books And Reading

Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.

- Norman Mailer

source: 1965 'Mr Mailer Interviews Himself', in the NewYork Times Book Review,17 Sep.

topic: Book, Writing, Men, Childbearing, Book Writing

The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.

- Andre Gide

topic: Beautiful, Writing, Madness, Inspiration To Write, Creative Writing

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.

- Groucho Marx

source: "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

topic: Inspirational, Funny, Smile, Learning To Read, Inspirational Reading

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.

- Stephen King

topic: Writing, Caring, Tools, Novel Writing, Creative Writing

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

- Groucho Marx

source: "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

topic: Funny, Friendship, Education, Joy Of Reading, Inspirational Dog

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.

- Joseph Brodsky

source: "The Balancing Act: Mastering the Competing Demands of Leadership". Book by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Al Switzler and Ron McMillan, 1996.

topic: Book, Reading, Burning, Martian Chronicles, Learning To Read

Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.

- Truman Capote

topic: Children, Book, Writing, Writers And Writing, Finishing A Book

You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world.

- Gilbert K. Chesterton

source: "Dictionary of Quotations in Communications" by Lilless McPherson Shilling, p. xvi, 1997.

topic: Book, Writing, World, Book Writing

Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.

- Willa Cather

topic: Writing, Age, Fifteen, Inspiration To Write, Writing Advice

To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.

- Herman Melville

topic: Book, Writing, Produce, Writing Advice, Writing Short

The reason why so few good books are written is, that so few people that can write know anything. In general an author has always lived in a room, has read books, has cultivated science, is acquainted with the style and sentiments of the best authors, but he is out of the way of employing his own eyes and ears. He has nothing to hear and nothing to see. His life is a vacuum.

- Walter Bagehot

topic: Book, Writing, Eye, Employing, Book Writing

Easy reading is damn hard writing.

- Nathaniel Hawthorne

topic: Reading, Writing, Easy, Journal Writing, Inspiration To Write

Books are never finished, They are merely abandoned.

- Oscar Wilde

topic: Book, Writing, Abandoned, Writing From The Heart, Book Writing

Begin with an individual, and before you know it you have created a type; begin with a type, and you find you have created - nothing.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

topic: Writing, Individual, Type, Writing Fiction, Famous Writers

Sarah Palin - now don't laugh - is writing a book. Not just reading a book, writing a book. Actually, in the word of the publisher, she's 'collaborating' on a book. What an embarrassment! It's one of these 'I told you,' books that jocks do.

- Chris Matthews

topic: Book, Reading, Writing, Book Writing

The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.

- John Steinbeck

topic: Horse, Book, Writing, Editing And Writing, Book Writing

When I get to a point in my book writing when I don't know what I'm going to do next, I'll come back look at underlined passages and see if the images I wrote still have a certain amount of resonance for me.

- Kate DiCamillo

source: TeachingBooks.net Interview, www.teachingbooks.net. November 12, 2005.

topic: Book, Writing, Looks, Book Writing

When I'm blogging, I think book writing is easier and vice versa. Writing is lonely work, and the good thing about blogging is that you have immediate feedback from commenters.

- Jenny Lawson

source: "Sassy Bloggess Jenny Lawson Mandates Cheesecake for Everyone...and for You to Read Her (Mostly True) Memoir, Out Today". Interview with Meredith Turits, www.glamour.com. April 17, 2012.

topic: Lonely, Book, Writing, Book Writing

Book writing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Anyone who decides to write a book must expect to invest a lot of time and effort without any guarantee of success. Books do not write themselves and they do not sell themselves. Authors write and promote their books.

- Dan Poynter

source: Dan Poynter (2000). “Writing Nonfiction: Turning Thoughts Into Books”, Para Pub

topic: Book, Writing, Effort, Get Rich Quick, Book Writing

The process of book writing for me is entirely one of trial and error.

- Geoff Dyer

topic: Book, Writing, Errors, Book Writing

Invitations to speak upon public occasions are among my most grievous embarrassments. Why is it inferred that one is or can be a public speaker because she has written a book? Writing is a very private business. I do not know any other occupation which requires so much privacy unless it is a life of prayer or a life of crime.

- Corra May Harris

topic: Prayer, Book, Writing, Book Writing

It is an admonition to myself when I am reading other people's books. Writing a book is very difficult to do, even a bad one. I try to remember that when reading someone else's work.