172 Quotes by Elmore Leonard

A man can be in two different places and he will be two different men. Maybe if you think of more places he will be more men, but two is enough for now.

Try not to write the parts that people skip.

I used to be able to write five pages a day, every day, no problem. Now a good day is five or four pages, and that's from 9:30 A.M. until 6 P.M.

Using adverbs is a mortal sin.

At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about.

I don't want the reader to be aware of me as the writer.

The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.

What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.