179 Quotes by Tanith Lee

We need the expressive arts, the ancient scribes, the storytellers, the priests.

Writing is writing, and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are fiction and nonfiction. And even there, who can be sure?

Never be afraid of a cliché, if it expresses what you wish to say.

The bitterness of joy lies in the knowledge that is cannot last. Nor should joy last beyond a certain season, for, after that season, even joy would become merely habit.

I never know where I am going, though. That is part of what makes it so wonderful. And after all, who does?

The other writer who had a very important early influence on me when I was about 17 was C.S. Lewis.

Writers tell stories better, because they've had more practice, but everyone has a book in them. Yes, that old cliche.

I submitted manuscripts to publishers. This was not so much a feeling that I should be published as a wish to escape the feared and hated drudgery of normal work.

If they had said my writing wasn't good enough, fair enough, that's an opinion. But to say it's too complex is to insult the intelligence of the so-called young.