James Jones (1921–1977) American author
The Paris Review interview (1958)
Source: About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, and Five Interviews
James Jones (1921–1977) American author
The Paris Review interview (1958)
“If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write.”
Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece
Book II, ch. 18.
Discourses
“Just as a good rain clears the air, a good writing day clears the psyche.”
Julia Cameron (1948) American writer
Source: The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer
Penguins and Golden Calves (2003)
Context: I have advice for people who want to write. I don't care whether they're 5 or 500. There are three things that are important: First, if you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Where you just put down what you think about life, what you think about things, what you think is fair and what you think is unfair. And second, you need to read. You can't be a writer if you're not a reader. It's the great writers who teach us how to write. The third thing is to write. Just write a little bit every day. Even if it's for only half an hour — write, write, write.
“Not-writing is a good deal worse than writing.”
Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer
Source: The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor
Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer
Original: (it) Se c'è una sola persona che ha il diritto di scrivere la storia della tua vita, quella persona sei tu: scrivila prepotentemente.
Source: prevale.net
“I try to write to the story, as opposed to writing for the reader…”
Mariko Tamaki (1975) Canadian writer and artist
On writing characters in “We Read To Challenge Ourselves: An Interview With Mariko Tamaki” https://comicsalliance.com/mariko-tamaki-pride-week-interview/ in Comics Alliance (2016 Jun 24)
“not writing is not good but trying to write when you can't is worse.”
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer
Source: The Last Night of the Earth Poems
“Write it, damn you, write it! What else are you good for?”
James Joyce (1882–1941) Irish novelist and poet