1,068 Quotes About Writers-on-writing

I suppose there must be idiots who dream of signing deals with publishers while fully intending to drink martinis in cool bars or ride around on skateboards. But the actual writers I know are experts in neurotic self-torture. Every page of writing is the result of a thousand tiny decisions and desperate acts of will.

A community of writers forges civilization. Future writers hold at their fingertips the psychic energy needed to propel us forward in the pursuit of universal justice. Writers’ meticulous observation of their surroundings spurs us to appreciate the impelling bouquets of beauty that rally us to declare the crispness of each day. Writers’ studious contemplation of their place in the world allows us to join them in admitting to the stochastic whimsy of a fateful life.

People tend to mistake reading and writing with living passively. Words are actions. Language ignites thoughts and channels emotions. Each sentence written by a literary master is an act of rebellion against the intolerable inadequacies and the outrageous injustices of life. Contemplative reading and writing creates channels of empathy and decreases our sense of aloneness. Many liberating social movements trace their origins back to a heart-wrenching piece of literature.

Writing about personal struggles and a disorganized life responding to the chaotic tumult and toils of an individual life connects a person with the touchstone of all humanity.

Writing is a highly encoded form of communication that takes place from one mind to another.

The difference between a writer and an author: Writers call each other writers. Readers call writers authors.

I write to breathe and I breathe to write.

True writers have multiple personalities. Every one of them is insane.

Does your mind endlessly feel like an outcast in a fog of noise? Try typing something. Anything. If that noise stops, you're a writer.