Ten Best Quotes About Writing
Writing can often be a tortuous, lonely road. So, to cheer all you writers and trainee writers up, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best quotes about writing.
These quotes are ones that ring true to me, make me laugh or make me think about the craft and what it means.
Number 1
“It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.” Robert Benchley
Robert Charles Benchley was an American humorous writer who was best known as a newspaper columnist for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. He was also an actor, appearing in Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Nice Girl (1941, and a short film maker. One of his films How to Sleep won the Best Short Subject at the 1936 Academy Awards. Robert Benchley died in November 1945 at the age of 56.
Number 2
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American journalist, novelist, short story writer and a keen sportsman. He wrote many famous novels including For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man of the Sea. A contemporary of F Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce, he was a regular at Gertrude Stein’s salons when he lived in Paris with his wife, Hadley.
Number 3
“Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they pretty much do the same thing.” Margaret Chittenden
Margaret, or Meg, Chittenden was a writer from the North of England who covered many genres including mystery, suspense, romance and children’s books. She also wrote how-to-books. As well as writing under her own name, she wrote under the pseudonym Rosalind Carson.
Number 4
“Writers will happen in the best of families.” Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown is an American writer and feminist who is best known for her autobiographical novel, Rubyfruit Jungle. An activist for women’s rights, she has received a number of awards for her literary achievements including the Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement ( Lambda Literary Awards) in 2015.
Number 5
“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” E. L. Doctorow
Edgar Lawrence Doctorow was an American writer who is perhaps best known for his historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. Some of his fiction was made into films including the 1967 film Welcome to Hard Times, Daniel in 1983, Billy Bathgate in 1991 and Ragtime in 1981. As well as being a writer, he also worked as an editor and professor.
Number 6
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining, show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Anton Chekhov
Russian playwright and short story writer, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction, his legacy includes hundreds of short stories, one novel and seven plays. Perhaps his most famous works include Uncle Vanya, Thick and Thin, and Three Sisters.
Number 7
“All good writing leaves something unexpressed.” Christian Nestell Bovee
Christian Nestell Bovee was an American writer who wrote two acclaimed books: Intuitions and Summaries of Thought and Thoughts, Feelings and Fancies. A contemporary of Washington Irving and Ralph Waldo Emerson, he was a New Yorker by birth. He died in Philadelphia in 1904.
Number 8
“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.” GK Chesterton
Englishman Gilbert Keith Chesterton was a writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary/art critic. Perhaps best known for his Father Brown stories, he was a prolific writer turning out 80 novels, hundreds of poems, 200 short stories and around 4,000 essays/newspaper columns in his lifetime.
Number 9
“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” Thomas Jefferson
American Founding Father and third president, Thomas Jefferson had a varied career as a statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, musician and philosopher. The main author of the Declaration of Independence, he was also the founder of the University of Virginia.
Number 10
“The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.” Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet, also known as Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer as well as being an historian and philosopher. Known for his wit and belief of freedom of speech, he was also a critic of the Roman Catholic Church and believed in the separation of church and state. He wrote both fiction and non-fiction, plays, poetry and historical books including the History of Charles XII (1731), The Age of Louis XIV (1751), and The Customs and the Spirit of the Nations (1756).
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