Quotes about Writing - What are some of your favorites?

[Scott]

I just found this cool quote about writing:

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

Unfortunately, it is actually a paraphrasing of something said by Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith in an interview with Walter Winchell in April 1949.

Anyway, I am sure there are many other great quotes about writing. What are some of your favorites?

[secretadmire]

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." - Ben Franklin
It's a pretty great life philosophy.

[gali]

“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
― Stephen King

[zeldas_lullaby]

They're not quotes exactly, not that I can attribute properly:

Write what you know.
If it isn't inside of you, then you can't write it.

[Naledi]

“If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.”
—Peter Handke

A friend if mine shared this quote with me and I loved it.

[AOlsen23]

Though this isn't about writing per se, here's a beautiful quote from Tolstoy, whose general sentiment I agree with and try to remain loyal to in my own writing:

The hero of my tale, whom I love with all the power of my soul, whom I tried to portray in all his beauty, who has been, is, and will be beautiful, is Truth.

One more, from Flannery O'Connor:

Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I'm always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it's very shocking to the system.

[mnleona]

Somewhat about writing. I read this in Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine and thought it was a good quote.
"The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries" by Rene Descartes

[Renee Bella]

"Throw up into your typewriter every morning, clean up every noon" - Raymond Chandler.

I use this quote as inspiration when I feel as though I've lost the will to write and can't possibly come up with useful content. Chandler stresses the importance of getting all of your ideas down on paper, irrespective of how 'good' you think they are. Then, whatever you really don't like, you can clean up later.

[Vermont Reviews]

"Throw up into your typewriter every morning, clean up every noon" - Raymond Chandler.

I use this quote as inspiration when I feel as though I've lost the will to write and can't possibly come up with useful content. Chandler stresses the importance of getting all of your ideas down on paper, irrespective of how 'good' you think they are. Then, whatever you really don't like, you can clean up later.

I like this one

Vermont Reviews

[Circling Turtle]

“The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.”
—Philip Roth

[rcoyte]

Write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.
-Neil Gaiman

[ekfinn]

"Writing is the painting of the voice."
-Voltaire

[Clifora]

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."
~Cyril Connolly

I feel that this quote is quite.. motivational. To me, it's saying that when you write, you should really ENJOY it. You shouldn't worry about whether others will judge your writing, because after all, it's really for yourself.

[Brandi Noelle]

"All you ever have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know."

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."

Both Ernest Hemingway

[pooja gupta]

good language knowledge.