The best author will be the one who is ashamed to become a writer.

The best author will be the one who is ashamed to become a writer.

A serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or read more

A serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl.

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original, and the part that read more

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.

My occupation is solely that of a painter.
No one can argue with pictures
(re descriptions in Uncle Tom's Cabin).

My occupation is solely that of a painter.
No one can argue with pictures
(re descriptions in Uncle Tom's Cabin).

When a writer admits that he has an affection for something which he has written, it is high time to read more

When a writer admits that he has an affection for something which he has written, it is high time to pray for his soul.

You become a better writer by writing. You become a better travel writer by writing about travel.

You become a better writer by writing. You become a better travel writer by writing about travel.

You become a good writer just as you become a good joiner: by planing down your sentences.

You become a good writer just as you become a good joiner: by planing down your sentences.

Nothing gives an author so much pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors.

Nothing gives an author so much pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors.

I wanted to be a writer from my early teenage years, but I never told anyone. Writers, in my opinion, read more

I wanted to be a writer from my early teenage years, but I never told anyone. Writers, in my opinion, were god-like creatures, and to say I was striving to be a writer would be incredibly arrogant.