“Until you act, you have nothing except words on the page.” – Gregg Fraley, Jack’s Notebook
Category: Writing Quotes
“The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” – Alvin Toffler
“Of all the weapons of destruction that man has invented, the most terrible – and the most powerful – is the word.” – Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain
“It is a classic instance of the maxim that literary works are made out of other literary works.” – Donald R. Howard
“Who often reads will sometimes wish to write.” – George Crabbe, Tales: Edward Shore
“One can never be alone enough when one writes.” – Franz Kafka
“Delay is natural to a writer. He is like a surfer – he bides his time, waits for the perfect wave on which to ride in. Delay is instinctive with him. He waits for the surge (of emotion? Of strength? Of courage?) that will carry him along. I have no warm-up exercises, other than to take an occasional drink. I am apt to let something simmer for a while in my mind before trying to put it into words…I revise a great deal. I know when something is right because bells begin ringing and lights flash. I’m not at all sure what the ‘necessary equipment’ is for a writer – it seems to vary greatly with the individual. Some writers are equipped with extrasensory perception. Some have a good ear, like O’Hara. Some are equipped with humor – although not really as many as you think they are. Some are equipped with a massive intellect like Wilson. Some are prodigious. I do think the ability to evaluate one’s own stuff with reasonable accuracy is a helpful piece of equipment.” – E.B. White, Writers at Work
“I never learned anything about writing in school and was never greatly interested in my composition courses because I was generally asked to write on an assigned subject, which I could never do. I always had to find my subject for myself.” – Edward Wagenknecht
“I want to write about love – about being a human being – about loneliness – about being a woman. I want to write about an encounter on an island. A man who changed my life. I want to write about a change that was accidental and a change that was deliberate. I want to write about moments I regard as gifts, good moments and bad moments. I don’t believe that the knowledge or experience that is part of me is any greater than what others have…It is not Liv Ullmann people meet in magazines and newspapers that I shall be writing about…I feel that I am afraid of revealing myself. Afraid that what I write will leave me vulnerable and no longer able to defend myself.” – Liv Ullmann, Changing
“My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” – Psalms 45:1 2 Feb 7
In God's Perfect Time 