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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.