“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.”

“He is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, for that is what he will know.”

“I am too fond of reading books to care to write them.”

“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.”

“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.”

“The reason a writer writes a book is to forget a book and the reason a reader reads one is to remember it.”

“If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write.”

“Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who really care for books read all of them. There is no other course.”

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

“Indeed, learning to write may be part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading.”