Quotes on Writing

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. -Cyril Connolly-

For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, I'm surprised where the journey takes me. -Jack Dann-

 Writing is a cop-out. An excuse to live perpetually in fantasy land, where you can create, direct and watch the products of your own head. Very selfish. -Monica Dickens-

For your born writer, nothing is so healing as the realization that he has come upon the right word. -Catherine Drinker Bowen-

Neither man nor God is going to tell me what to write.
-James T. Farrell-

 Forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing.-Melinda Haynes-

The only reason for being a professional writer is that you just can't help it.-Leo Rosten-

Write something to suit yourself and many people will like it; write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it.
-Jesse Stuart-

  If you're a freelance writer and aren't used to being ignored, neglected, and generally given short shrift, you must not have been in the business very long.-Poppy Z. Brite-

 I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within. -Gustave Flaubert-

 A person who publishes a book appears willfully in public eye with his pants down. -Edna St. Vincent Millay-

All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.-George Orwell-

The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.
-John Steinbeck-