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.

Every compulsion is put upon writers to become safe, polite, obedient, and sterile.

Every compulsion is put upon writers to become safe, polite, obedient, and sterile.

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.

Neither man nor God is going to tell me what to write.

Neither man nor God is going to tell me what to write.

If you write, one of the questions you're always trying to answer is, Where do you get your ideas? And, read more

If you write, one of the questions you're always trying to answer is, Where do you get your ideas? And, if you write, you know how pointless a question this is and how difficult it is to answer.

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).

Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book.

Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book.

Writers seldom write the things they think. They simply write the things they think other folks think they think.

Writers seldom write the things they think. They simply write the things they think other folks think they think.

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.