“Read deeply, not to believe, not to accept, not to contradict, but to learn to share in that one nature that writes and reads.”

“Read a lot, listen well and deeply, and write a lot. […] If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you.”

“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.”

“Read history. That’s it. Read history. Read and read and read in both primary and secondary sources. Learn to evaluate and compare. And then… write. Writing will be the hardest thing you ever do. But it’s the goal— write about the past and how we see it.”

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

“That's a very good way to learn the craft of writing — from reading.”

“Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.”

“One must be an inventor to read well. There is then creative reading as well as creative writing.”

“I can't believe it! Reading and writing actually paid off!”

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