“Write only if you cannot live without writing. Write only what you alone can write.”
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor
As quoted in Boston Globe interview (4 January 1987)
“Write only if you cannot live without writing. Write only what you alone can write.”
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor
L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) American science fiction author, philosopher, cult leader, and the founder of the Church of Scientology
Lecture: "Off the Time Track" (June 1952) as quoted in Journal of Scientology issue 18-G, reprinted in Technical Volumes of Dianetics & Scientology Vol. 1, p. 418.
Padma Lakshmi (1970) Indian-born American author, actress, model, television host and executive producer
Source: "What I’ve Learned: Padma Lakshmi" in Esquire https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a37862708/padma-lakshmi-what-ive-learned-interview-2021/ (2 November 2021)
William Empson (1906–1984) English literary critic and poet
W. H. Auden, recorded in Alan Ansen (ed. Nicholas Jenkins) The Table Talk of W. H. Auden (London: Faber, 1991) p. 44.
Criticism
“Write the book you want to read, the one you cannot find.”
Carol Shields (1935–2003) American author
“We write not only for children but also for their parents. They, too, are serious children.”
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991) Polish-born Jewish-American author
Stories for Children (1984)
“It's much more entertaining to live books than to write them.”
Jean Webster book Daddy-Long-Legs
Source: Daddy-Long-Legs