I have a library of quotation books. Writers are a  fascinating breed. Here are some quotes from writers:

I may write garbage, but you can always edit garbage. you can’t edit a blank page. Jodi Picolt

Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body- Joseph AddisonSome writers enjoy writing, I I am told. not me. I enjoy having written- George R. R. Martin

I  do most of my writing sitting down. that’s where I shine- Robert Benchley

Writing is a job, but it’s also the place to go in your head. it is the imaginary friend you drink your tea with in the afternoon= Anne Patches

Don’t shove me into your damn pigeonhole, where I don’t fit, because I’m all over. my tentacles are coming out of the pigeonholes in all directions- Ursula k. le Guin

Nothing will work unless you do – Maya Angelou

Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement Christopher fry

Writing is like getting married. one should never 
commit oneself imdil one is amazed at one”s luck. tris Murdoch

Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music-the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people, forget yourself- Henry Miller

When I am dead, I hope it may be said
his sins were scarlet, but his books were read – hilaire Belloc

Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work- Gustave Flaubert

I can’t understand these chaps who go around American universities explaining how they write poems. its like going around explaining how you sleep with your wife- Philip Larkin

If twitter or Facebook is the answer, it’s probably the wrong question- Ben Schotl

To generalise is to be an idiot- William Blake

Style is a simple way of saying complicated things- jean Cocteau

I became so wealthy that I could afford to have pizza for dinner every night if I wished, which for me is the definition of wealth- Caitlin Moran

What I like in a good author is not what he says biut what he whispers. Logan Persall Smith

Wit ought to be a glorious treat like caviar; never spread it about like marmalade- Noel Coward

One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment- Hart Crane

The arrow belongs not to the archer when it has once left the bow; the word no longer belongs to the speaker when it has once passed his lips.= Heinrich Heine

I also like to remind myself of something my dad told me in response to writer’s block- ‘coal miners don’t get coal miners block- John Green

Reading Proust is like bathing in someone else’s dirty laundry Alexander Woollcott

The critic the younger brother of genius . next to invention is the power of interpreting invention; next to beauty the power of interpreting beauty…the critic then should be not merely a poet, not merely a philosopher, not merely an observer, but composed of all three- Margaret Fuller

 cynic is a man who when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin h.l Mencken

Writers on Writing A Book Of Quotations
Bloomsbury Publishing
First published in Great Britain
isbn 978-1-4729-8697-9
e book 978-1-4729-8899-1


Featured image : Legendary Afro American writer Maya Angelou