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.

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.

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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

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