James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright
Memo to The New Yorker (1959); reprinted in New York Times Book Review (4 December 1988)
Letters and interviews
“You cannot teach creativity—how to become a good writer. But you can help a young writer discover within himself what kind of writer he would like to be.” Mario Vargas Llosa”
Last update March 5, 2023. History
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Mario Vargas Llosa30
Peruvian writer, politician, journalist, and essayist 1936Related quotes
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Grace Paley (1922–2007) American writer and activist
“If you need drugs to be a good writer, you're not a good writer.”
Rod Serling (1924–1975) American screenwriter
The Rod Serling bio page on the Internet Movie DataBase.
Other
“You become a good writer just as you become a good joiner: by planing down your sentences.”
Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer
On devient bon écrivain comme on devient bon menuisier: en rabotant ses phrases.
As quoted in Anatole France en pantoufles by Jean-Jacques Brousson (1924); published in English as Anatole France Himself: A Boswellian Record by His Secretary, Jean-Jacques Brousson (1925), trans. John Pollock, p. 85
Variant translation: You become a good writer just as you become a good carpenter: by planing down your sentences.
“If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write.”
Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece
Book II, ch. 18.
Discourses
Northrop Frye (1912–1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist
"Quotes", The Educated Imagination (1963), Talk 2: The Singing School
John Hollander (1929–2013) American poet
Interview with J D McCarthy 'The Art of Poetry' no 35 Fall 1985
“You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to find it within himself.”
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) Italian mathematician, physicist, philosopher and astronomer
As quoted in How to Win Friends and Influence People (1935) by Dale Carnegie, p. 117; also paraphrased as "You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to find it for himself." Attributions are found as early as 1882. <br class="br">Attributed <br class="br">Source: Google Books link https://books.google.com/books?id=h70_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA476&dq=You+cannot+teach+a+man+anything;+you+can+only+help+him+find+it+within+himself&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMI39Gmss_gyAIVRNRjCh1Q2wGN#v=onepage&q=%22You%20cannot%20teach%22&f=false
“A writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid.”
William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer