“The young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.”

“The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

“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, …

“If your life is worth thinking about, it is worth writing about.”

Robin S. Sharma (1965) Canadian self help writer

“The only book that is worth writing is the one we don’t have the courage or strength to write. The book that hurts us (we who are writing), that makes us tremble, redden, bleed”

Hélène Cixous (1937) French philosopher and writer

“Writing is a dog’s life, but the only one worth living.”

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

“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

“No one writes anything worth writing, unless he writes entirely for the sake of his subject.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

“It’s easier to write about Socrates than about a young woman or a cook.”

Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian dramatist, author and physician