Writers don't write to inform other people, they write to find out something themselves. Votes: 4
Judith GuestWriters change the world one heart, one mind, at a time. That should be enough to keep us going. Votes: 4
David FarlandWriters ... I think ... live on that fine line between insanity and genius ... Votes: 3
Nikki GiovanniWriters are doubters, compulsives, self-flagellants. The torture only stops for brief moments. Votes: 3
Erica JongWriters are said to have superstitions and little rituals. Readers have them too. Votes: 3
Ian McewanWriters would be warm, loyal, and otherwise terrific people-if only they'd stop writing. Votes: 3
Laura MillerWriters never feel comfortable having labels attached to them, however accurate they are. Votes: 3
Jonathan CoeWriters obviously have to bear witness to the harsh face of the age. Votes: 3
Alexander McCall SmithWriters who pretend that everything they're doing is completely new are full of it. Votes: 3
Justin CroninWriters have been in terrible situations and have yet managed to produce extraordinary work. Votes: 3
Salman RushdieWriters of comedy have outlook, whereas writers of tragedy have, according to them, insight. Votes: 3
James ThurberWriters learn their craft, above all, from the work of other writers. From reading. Votes: 3
Marie AranaWriters think in metaphors. Editors work in metaphors. A great reader reads in metaphors. Votes: 3
Steven PressfieldWriters can't write as fast as governments make wars; because to write demands thinking. Votes: 3
Bertolt BrechtWriters rush in where publishers fear to tread and where translators fear to tread. Votes: 3
Guillermo Cabrera InfanteDon't wait for the muse. She has a lousy work ethic. Writers just write. Votes: 3
Barbara KingsolverWriters aren't born, they're made - from practice, reading, and a lot of caffeine. Votes: 3
Alexander CheeWriters talk about the agony of writing; I talk about the agony of not writing. Votes: 3
Laura Z. HobsonWriters, and particularly female writers, have to fight for the conditions they need to work ... Votes: 3
Doris LessingWriters must constantly ask: what I am trying to say? Surprisingly often, they don't know. Votes: 3
William ZinsserWriters aren't born properly labeled so it is hard to know one when one appears. Votes: 3
Julianna BaggottWriters, like elephants, have long, vicious memories. There are things I wish I could forget. Votes: 3
William S. BurroughsWriters shouldn't have lives that are interesting. It gets in the way of your work. Votes: 3
Salman RushdieWriters are magpies, and we collect details about people and we use them for fictional characters. Votes: 3
Caroline LeavittWriters may be solitary but they also tend to flock together: they like being solitary together. Votes: 3
Neil GaimanWriters build castles in the air, the reader lives inside, and the publisher inns the rent. Votes: 3
Maxim GorkyWriters are always a great nuisance to publishers. If they could do without them, they would. Votes: 3
Fay WeldonWriters do not write about a place because they belong there, but because they want to. Votes: 3
Tony EarleyWriters' bedtimes vary, but few have been spared the shock of a copy editor's early wake-up call Votes: 3
Bill WalshWriters' bedtimes vary, but few have been spared the shock of a copy editor's early wake-up call. Votes: 3
Bill WalshWriters' bedtimes vary, but few have been spared the shock of a copy editor's early wake-up call." Votes: 3
Bill WalshWriters can write outside their ethnicity or sex depending how open and vulnerable they wish to be. Votes: 3
Jim HarrisonWriters are in the entertainment business, and it gives me lots of pleasure to entertain my readers. Votes: 3
Brian LumleyWriters of fiction should stick to writing, not pop up on panel shows or as a talking head. Votes: 3
Robert HarrisWriters must rely more on the feel of a sentence than on the dictates of a rule book. Votes: 3
James J. KilpatrickWriters of novels live in a strange world where what's made up is as important as what's real. Votes: 3
Sara SheridanWriters who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media. Votes: 3
William SafireWriters have a rare power not given to anyone else: we can bore people long after we are dead. Votes: 3
Sinclair LewisVeterans and remarkable rookies. International Thriller Writers, Inc. (ITW) cofounder, David Votes: 2
Lee ChildWriters say many true things about their own experiences with publicity and promotion. Votes: 2
Teresa Nielsen HaydenWriters have problems writing sex scenes, because writing one really well is pornography. Votes: 2
Fran LebowitzWriters read essays and serious thinkers and serious readers... that is a small population. Votes: 2
Alan LightmanWriters rush in where publishers fear to tread and where translators fear to tread Votes: 2
Guillermo Cabrera InfanteWriters tend to suffer from back problems because they spend their time bent over a desk. Votes: 1
Eric IdleWriters in repressive societies are considered dangerous. That's why so many of them are in jail. Votes: 1
Don DeLilloAre writers reporters, prophets, crazies, entertainers, preachers, judges, what? Votes: 0
Wallace StegnerHow many authors are there among writers? Author means originator. Votes: 0
Karl Wilhelm Friedrich SchlegelEnlightening editorial writers is even more difficult than educating educators. Votes: 0
Malcolm ForbesUnrecognized alcoholism is the ruling pathology among writers and intellectuals. Votes: 0
Diana TrillingMany climbers become writers because of the misconceptions about climbing. Votes: 0
Jonathan WatermanI think people underestimate the value of collaboration, especially for writers. Votes: 0
Akiva Goldsman...writers, like priests, should have compassion...and a sensitivity to pain... Votes: 0
John GeddesBecause most writers have totally unrealistic concepts of how publishing works. Votes: 0
Jim HarrisonAll writers, all storytellers, are imposing their own narrative on something. Votes: 0
Michael KimmelmanVery few writers of distinction in fact were outstanding as undergraduates. Votes: 0
Joyce Carol OatesEven though no one admits it, writers are leaders in their communities. Votes: 0
Pramoedya Ananta ToerCountry people give me more than writers, and country places than towns. Votes: 0
Leonard Alfred George StrongHumor writers:1) Write2) Laugh3) Laugh when they write4) Write when they laugh Votes: 0
Ann K. HowleyThen, as now, archaelogists and writers ventured where others feared to tread. Votes: 0
Janet WallachI think writers rush in where everybody is very frightened to tread Votes: 0
Guillermo Cabrera InfanteWRITERS ARE "SPIRITIAL VENTRILOQUIST" WHO HAVE THE ABILITY TO MAKE PAPER TALK! Votes: 0
Qwana M. BabyGirl Reynolds-FrasierGood writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright. Votes: 0
Aaron SorkinI've heard from writers and musicians and fans that they think I'm underrated. Votes: 0
Rick SpringfieldAll great writers begin with a good leather binding and a respectable title. Votes: 0
James M. BarrieOne of the biggest problems for beginning writers is this need to over-explain. Votes: 0
Scarlett ThomasCharacters are not created by writers. They pre-exist and have to be found. Votes: 0
Elizabeth BowenThere's a great myth about cartoonists, writers and people that are on TV. Votes: 0
Shel SilversteinMany writers profess great exactness in punctuation who never yet made a point. Votes: 0
George D. PrenticeI think many people would say that writers like Stephen King have hypergraphia. Votes: 0
Tracy ChapmanI've discovered writers by reading books left in airplane seats and weird hotels. Votes: 0
Lee ChildAmerican writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and be more dangerous. Votes: 0
Don DeLilloWell, you know when people are no good at anything else they become writers. Votes: 0
W. Somerset MaughamI admire the attention other writers can give to the world we're walking in. Votes: 0
Stephen Vincent BenetMost writers are vulnerable and insecure, and Kay Graham was more so than most. Votes: 0
Robert GottliebWhen a country is strong... it accepts any dose of pessimism from its writers. Votes: 0
Michel HouellebecqM F K Fisher is the dowager queen of writers on browsing and slicing. Votes: 0
Philip Howard, 20th Earl of ArundelThe greatest writers of this age... are aware of the mystery of our existence. Votes: 0
J. B. PriestleyI'm an author. And writers write books. And writing books is a full-time career. Votes: 0
Marianne WilliamsonI get so used to working with writers that my prime occupation is development. Votes: 0
Ridley ScottHistory isn't written by the winners OR the losers; it's written by the writers. Votes: 0
Alan C. BairdSometimes writers (poets) expect me to think far deeper than I'm willing to dig. Votes: 0
Richelle E. Goodrich[Bill Shawn] didn't edit the writers very strongly, but he knew what he wanted. Votes: 0
Nat HentoffCertain writers have it very precise and there's not much room to add something. Votes: 0
Robert De NiroI often felt myself to be an outsider, which is great training for all writers. Votes: 0
Karen RussellThere is no way that writers can be tamed and rendered civilized. Or even cured. Votes: 0
Robert A. HeinleinYou know, as fiction writers, if our instincts are off, we can't pay our bills. Votes: 0
Lorrie MooreWhen the fad changed from folk to rock, they didn't take along any good writers. Votes: 0
Mary TraversGreat writers leave us not just their works, but a way of looking at things. Votes: 0
Elizabeth JanewayI love writers who are insightful enough to be cynical but choose not to be. Votes: 0
Brian D. McLarenThe great writers of aphorisms read as if they had all known each other well. Votes: 0
Elias CanettiI added 'writers' to my list of people not to trust. They make everything up. Votes: 0
David MitchellOne of the most subtle and powerful writers of dark fiction - a unique voice. Votes: 0
Michael Marshall SmithI feel like if writers used writing as therapy we'd have a ton of happy writers. Votes: 0
Jennifer GilmoreMost writers are drawn to what is unknown, rather than what is clear in any tale. Votes: 0
Hannah KentI think that if you can butter writers up enough, they might give you a little. Votes: 0
Kristen BellI'm useless when I meet writers I love - I go slack-jawed and stupid with awe. Votes: 0
Katherine BooI just have a thing for writers. Maybe it because I'm just so not a writer. Votes: 0
Patricia ClarksonI do think that the modern India does belong to writers who are living in India. Votes: 0
Kiran DesaiAll that writers can do is keep trying to say what is deepest in their hearts. Votes: 0
Lloyd AlexanderI have the longing that all writers have for new ears to pour my words into. Votes: 0
Alasdair MacLeanSome writers pick a topic and write around that, but I like to include it all. Votes: 0
Sarah DessenI think the criticism that I take to heart is from other writers that I respect. Votes: 0
Steve EarleI'm of the ilk of writers that feels you have to be open to the inspiration. Votes: 0
Sara BareillesOur job as writers is to listen, to come home to the four corners of the earth. Votes: 0
Natalie GoldbergI don't have a room full of writers pitching ideas. It's just me out of my head. Votes: 0
Louis C. K.Don't wait for writers to be dead to be read; the living ones can use the money. Votes: 0
Thomas C. FosterIt is within the power of writers and artists to do much more: to defeat the lie!
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynAdvice to writers: Sometimes you just have to stop writing. Even before you begin.
Stanislaw Jerzy LecEd Wood served a great purpose - mainly making writers feel better about their work.
R. K. MilhollandIt's difficult for writers in the theatre. It's difficult for writers in the theatre.
Donna McKechnieI wonder sometimes if the motivation for writers ought to be contempt, not admiration.
Orson Scott CardThe writers' strike a couple years ago was a bonanza for reality TV shows new and old.
Carole Nelson DouglasAnd there are people who want to be writers because they love to write. And they care.
Russell Banksit's been my experience that most writers don't talk about their craft--they just do it
Alfred LansingThis is the gift all writers seek-to write language that incandesces yet does not melt.
Lawrence Clark PowellA lot of young writers wait for inspiration. The inspiration only hits you at the desk.
Robert AndersonThe world may be full of fourth-rate writers but it's also full of fourth-rate readers.
Stan BarstowI can't lie and say there are no bad writers. Sorry, but there are lots of bad writers.
Stephen KingWhen you see two writers named on a movie, one of them did some drafts and got the boot.
Andrew DaviesA writers job is to destroy and then to build the thing back up again by a chosen means.
Barry HannahMost writers, most books, you have no idea whether it was a dollar or a million dollars.
Chad HarbachThe better the writers the less they will speak about what they have written themselves.
Ernest HemingwayI'm kind of hooked to the game of art and literature; my heroes are artists and writers.
Jim MorrisonAs writers we must, from our very opening sentence, speak with authority to our readers.
Michael Cunninghamwhen it comes to their essential faculty as writers, all writers are androgynous beings.
Nadine GordimerThey say writers sell everybody out. What can you do? You know only the people you know.
Vivian GornickI think writers worry that you might not exist in some strange way if you're not writing.
Anne EnrightI can think of plenty of writers whose work I revere and whose lives I know little about.
Brad Listi[On the writers she admires:] I prefer dead writers, because I don't see them at parties.
Fran LebowitzPoets and writers who are in love with the superlative all want to do more than they can.
Friedrich NietzscheAll writers are waiting for replies. That's what I've learned. Maybe all human beings are
Niall WilliamsMost of the outrage comes from not the public, but from the media, the press and writers.
Seth MacFarlanePeople only become writers if they can't find the one book they've always wanted to read.
Virginia WoolfPrudence is one of the virtues which were called cardinal by the ancient ethical writers.
William FlemingSpeech writers are more vulnerable to vanity than any other group of people in Washington.
David FrumI don't really think the outburst is recent; there have always been writers in Appalachia.
Donald Ray PollockThis is the role of writers: to turn their tears into a story - and perhaps into a prayer.
Elie WieselWe should write, above all, because we are writers, whether we call ourselves that or not.
Julia CameronI never hear white writers get asked, 'Do you worry about how you represent white people?'
Junot DiazIf writers learn more from their books than do readers, perhaps I may have begun to learn.
Lloyd AlexanderLive an interesting life. Meet people. Read a lot and widely, learn from the great writers
Michael MorpurgoIt's also not unusual for writers to look backward. Because that's your pool of resources.
Paul McCartneyTwo sorts of writers possess genius: those who think, and those who cause others to think.
Ralph Waldo EmersonIt's the whole cat and mouse game between the readers and writers that makes the web work.
Tim Berners-LeeI think all writers write for an audience. There is no such thing as writing for yourself.
William S. BurroughsI always loved song writers who wrote songs in the first person, so it's kind of like that.
Cameron CroweI have never been particularly impressed by the self centered musings of my fellow writers.
Gore VidalI also write plays, so I understand the writers mind, and how obsessed you can get writing.
Jeff DanielsI'm the biggest Chekov fan - there's something that he does that not many other writers do.
Jeremy IrvineDirectors and writers have a lot of stress as well, because they have people they answer to.
Alexis BledelEverything takes me forever. It's all lurch, flail. I hope that is good news to you writers.
Anne LamottI don't think writers compete, I think they're all doing separate things in their own style.
Elmore LeonardThe great writers just kept bringing them out. They didn't care if they repeated themselves.
Irwin Shawbut writers, Garp knew, were just observers - good and ruthless imitators of human behavior.
John IrvingAnother thing all writers have in common is we're all observers. We pay attention to detail.
Judy BlumeThere are some writers I think who love to go around and visit bookstores and just interact.
Lincoln ChildI've always felt those articles somehow reveal more about the writers than they do about me.
Marilyn MonroeWhen you catch an adjective, kill it - perhaps the best possible advice for budding writers.
Mark TwainMany fiction writers eventually want to feel that their work forms a single, unified entity.
Peter StraubIt's also interesting to notice that most of the best Finnish speculative writers are women.
Toni JerrmanYoung writers should be encouraged to write, and discouraged from thinking they are writers.
Wallace StegnerBad writers are those who try to express their own feeble ideas in the language of good ones.
Georg C. LichtenbergWriting, at its best and truest, can offer solace and salvation for both readers and writers.
Roxane GayI think it's up to writers to write stuff that is compelling enough that people want to watch.
Aaron SorkinGood writers show rather than tell. Stories are told in action. Life stories are no different.
Donald MillerLike most-maybe all- writers, I learned to write by writing and, by example, by reading books.
Francine ProseI think writers are a lot like lawyers. We feed off the misfortunes of people, even ourselves.
Gail Anderson-DargatzMost writers are in a state of gloom a good deal of the time; they need perpetual reassurance.
John Hall WheelockI really don't want to encourage young writers. Keep them down and out and silent is my motto.
John UpdikeSuccessful writers learn at last what they should learn at first,--to be intelligently simple.
Josh BillingsThe crew, the actors and the writers all work the same way. We always want to do the best job.
Robert KnepperIn general, writers shouldn't be killed for what they write, though I can think of exceptions.
Salman RushdieMost writers flourish greatly on a simple, healthy routine with occasional time off for gaiety.
Dorothea BrandeI don't think writers should write about answers. I think writers should write about questions.
Paul HaggisThe world is a more engaging and less dramatic place than writers ever give it credit for being
Richard FordAnd must I, perchance, like careful writers, guard myself against the conclusions of my readers?
Djuna BarnesFor writers that rehearsal period is death. It is the most destructive thing of all to a script.
Peter StoneIt would be no loss to the world if most of the writers now writing had been strangled at birth.
Rebecca WestThe writers who have nothing to say, are the ones you can buy, the others have too high a price.
Walter Lippmann'Course the world of sports takes itself way too serious. Sports writers are all high and mighty.
Artie LangeGood writers hate bad writing but hating bad writing doesnât make you good. Writing badly does.
Dan HarmonThe wonderful fortune of some writers deludes and leads to misery a great number of young people.
Jean Antoine Petit-SennDetails are our business as writers. Your heart leaps when you see a detail that can go somewhere
Joan DidionThe thing with being on a series that runs that long is that the writers run out of things to do.
Ted ShackelfordLike so many writers I started writing stories because I didn't have much time for anything else.
Tobias WolffNew writers seem to pop up from everywhere. And quite a few of them are really good and original.
Toni JerrmanThere's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough.
William ZinsserPeople who go on to be writers are those who can forgive themselves the horror of the first draft.
Alain de BottonDeserted libraries hold the shades of writers who worked within, and are haunted by their absence.
Alberto ManguelBeing part of a community of writers is huge. I really think that's why people go to MFA programs.
Alice MattisonUpdike and Bellow and Roth were my three favorite writers when I was young and throughout my life.
Ann PatchettIf writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[ pasdlgkhasdfasdf.
Daniel HandlerGet more women producers, writers, directors. Why should we expect men to do it for us? They can't
Kathleen TurnerI suppose all writers are crazy, but if they are any good, I believe they have a terrible honesty.
Raymond ChandlerI would advise budding writers some other kind of job, unless they think they're very, very lucky.
Terry PratchettClear writers, like fountains, do not seem so deep as they are; the turbid look the most profound.
Walter Savage LandorUs writers all like each other and want to write stories with each other; we're having a good time.
Charles SouleI'm not the most accomplished of writers out there, but I feel that I quite effective all the same.
Don GibsonYou call this a script? Give me a couple of 5,000-dollar-a-week writers and I will write it myself.
Joe PasternakPraise will lead you to vanity, and blame will lead you to self-pity, and both are bad for writers.
John BerrymanWe have some writers so abstruse and deep that they drown themselves in their fathomless sentences.
Josh BillingsI didnât know that painters and writers retired. Theyâre like soldiers â they just fade away.
Lawrence FerlinghettiWhen midlist writers are treated like dirt, I would desist were I less stubborn and less committed.
Marge PiercyWhat I adore is supreme professionalism. I'm bored by writers who can write only when it's raining.
Noel CowardWhat is The Subconscious to every other man, in its creative aspect becomes, for writers, The Muse.
Ray BradburyDon't get me wrong. I have nothing against this as a method, but it is not what English writers do.
William GoldingThe perfect integrity of The NewYork Times, and its writers, is not precisely 'just silly nonsense,'
Hedi SlimaneAn awful lot of thriller writers write women rather badly. So just doing it OK gets a lot of credit.
Ken FollettArt inspires me. Looking at art in a museum, listening to music, reading the works of other writers.
Theodora GossTherefore we say that a lying Spirit has been in the mouth of the writers of the books of the Bible.
Thomas Paine