“Saepe stilum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint scripturus. Often must you turn your pencil to erase, if you hope to write something worth a second reading.”

“You must write for yourself, above all. That is your only hope of creating something beautiful.”

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)

“You must write, and read, as if your life depended on it.”

Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist

“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are gone, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.”

Carson McCullers (1917–1967) American writer

“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …

“A story with no moral isn't worth writing; a story with no plot isn't worth reading. And if people get your point before they get your story, you are to hire a soapbox instead.”

Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930–1999) Novelist, editor

“I have rewritten — often several times — every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Speak, Memory

“No one on earth is so boring and insignificant that he or she is not worth writing or reading about… One thing's for sure—no one but you can be the hero of your story.”

Jerry Spinelli (1941) American children's writer

“When I erase a word with a pencil, where does it go?”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

“Once you learn what life is about, there is no way to erase that knowledge. If you try to do something else with your life, you will always sense that you are missing something”

James Redfield (1950) American author, lecturer, screenwriter and film producer