“I learned to write by reading the kind of books I wished I'd written.”

“It is a general observation that people write as they read. As a rule, careful writers are careful readers and vice versa. A careful writer wants to be read carefully. He cannot know what it means to be read carefully but by having done careful reading himself. Reading precedes writing. We read before we write. We learn to write by reading. A man learns to write well by reading well good books, by reading most carefully books which are most carefully written.”

“I was kind of solitary. I'd spend a lot of time on my own, reading books. I didn't integrate very well.”

“I've always tried to write the kind of book I most loved to read: character-centered adventure.”

“I don't write a book so that it will be the final word; I write a book so that other books are possible, not necessarily written by me.”

“As it was, I couldn't escape the feeling that I was out of my element. I found myself thinking of a book I'd left half-read at home and wishing I'd stuck it in my purse so I could pull it out now.”

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

“I went to college, but I learned to write by reading and writing.”

“Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what has been written before. Writing is learned by imitation.”

“I've developed a great reputation for wisdom by ordering more books than I ever had time to read, and reading more books, by far, than I learned anything useful from, except, of course, that some very tedious gentlemen have written books.”