Writer Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old writer quotes, writer sayings, and writer proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Beauty breeds beauty, truth triggers truth. The cure for writer's block is therefore to read. Matt Haig
For a creative writer possession of the truth is less important than emotional sincerity. George Orwell
The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. Anais Nin
A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer Karl Kraus
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader Robert Frost
The main engagement of the writer is towards truthfulness; therefore he must keep his mind and his judgement free Gabrielle Roy
To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard. Allen Ginsberg
The writer is the engineer of the human soul. Joseph Stalin
The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies. Ray Bradbury
My idea of a writer: someone interested in everything Susan Sontag
The great liberty of the fictional writer is to let the imagination out of the traces and see it gallop off over the horizon. Will Self
Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcuts. Larry L. King
If I'd learned nothing else, it was this: If you want to be a great writer, be a man. If you can't be a man, write like one Julianna Baggott
The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself. Albert Camus
The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time and place and eternity somehow meet. His problem is to find that location Flannery O'Connor
A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket. Charles Peguy
You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children. Madeleine L'Engle
As a writer, the best mindset is to be unafraid Malcolm Gladwell
The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. Muriel Rukeyser
The writer must earn money in order to be able to live and to write, but he must by no means live and write for the purpose of making money. Karl Marx
In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable. John Steinbeck
When a writer becomes a reader of his or her own work, a lot can go wrong. It's like do-it-yourself dentistry William Collins
A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends. Friedrich Nietzsche
I don't care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book. Roald Dahl
One of my rules is never explain. A writer is a lot like a magician, if you explain how the trick works then a lot of the magic turns mundane Laurell K. Hamilton
As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand. Ernest Hemingway
The writing career is not a romantic one. The writer's life may be colorful, but his work itself is rather drab. Mary Roberts Rinehart
Style is that which indicates how the writer takes himself and what he is saying. It is the mind skating circles around itself as it moves forward Robert Frost
Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river. Lisa See
A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity. Franz Kafka

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