“write what readers want to read, which isn’t necessarily what you want to write.”

“If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write.”

Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece

“Write the book you want to read, the one you cannot find.”

Carol Shields (1935–2003) American author

“The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.”

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer

“If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that's read by persons who move their lips when they're reading to themselves.”

Don Marquis (1878–1937) American writer

“If you want to read a perfect book there is only one way: write it.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

“She was a lucky woman who had established a happy knack of writing what quite a lot of people wanted to read.”

Agatha Christie Elephants Can Remember

“People say to write about what you know. I'm here to tell you, no one wants to read that, cos you don't know anything. So write about something you don't know. And don't be scared, ever.”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer

“You write poems
because you need
a place
where what isn’t may be”

Alejandra Pizarnik (1936–1972) Argentinian poet

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer