I love writing quotes. Recently, I stumbled across new-to-me writing, inspirational, and life advice quotes from famous authors. Too much spot-on advice not to share here on TKZ. Plus, I’m writing eighteen different articles to spread the news about my new eco-thriller. 😉
Writing Quotes
“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” — Albert Camus
“As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand.” — Ernest Hemingway
“To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.” — Herman Melville
“As for ‘Write what you know,’ I was regularly told this as a beginner. I think it’s very good rule and have always obeyed it. I write about imaginary countries, alien societies on other planets, dragons, wizards, the Napa Valley in 22002. I know these things. I know them better than anybody else possibly could, so it’s my duty to testify about them.” — Ursula K. Le Guin
“You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.” — Annie Proulx
“Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you have to die if you were forbidden to write.” — Rainer Maria Rilke
“A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are. The job of your voice is not to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences. In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul.” — Meg Rosoff
“Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book. Give it, give it all, give it now.” — Annie Dillard
“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” — Toni Morrison
“Tears are words that need to be written.” — Paulo Coelho
Inspirational Quotes by Writers
“You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” — Virginia Woolf
“The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.” — George Eliot
“Focus more on your desire than on your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself.” — Mark Twain
“Jump off a cliff and build your wings on the way down.” — Ray Bradbury
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.” — Neil Gaiman
“Don’t bend. Don’t water it down. Don’t try to make it logical. Don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” — Franz Kafka
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” — Mark Twain
“Maybe it’s not about having a beautiful day, but about finding beautiful moments. Maybe a whole day is just too much to ask. I could choose to believe that in every day, in all things, no matter how dark and ugly, there are shards of beauty if I look for them.” — Anna White
“Trust our heart if the seas catch fire, live by love though the stars walk backwards.” — E. E. Cummings
“One day I find the right words, and they will be simple.” — Jack Kerouac
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” — Maya Angelou
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” — Alice Walker
Life Advice From Writers
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” — Oscar Wilde
“That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.” — Emily Dickinson
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” — George Eliot
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” — Haruki Murakami
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” — Plato
“Unable are the loved to die for love is immortality.” — Emily Dickinson
“Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.” — Sylvia Plath
“Don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose.” — C.S. Lewis
Are you inspired yet? Great! Get to work. 😉 Do you have a favorite?
Amidst the wild and unforgiving landscapes of Yellowstone Park, eco-warriors Mayhem and Shawnee race against the clock to protect an American Buffalo herd from the ruthless Killzme Corporation.
With a massive bounty on their heads and an army of killers on their trail, Mayhem and Shawnee risk it all to preserve the sacred lineage of the Innocent Ones.
There is no line Shawnee and Mayhem won’t cross.
Even murder.
As the danger intensifies and the clock winds down, will they be able to save the herd? Or will this be the mission that finally breaks them?
Preorder for 99c. Sale ends on release day, April 11, 2024.
Great post, Sue.
Haruki Murakami’s quote “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional” really hits home. It’s a philosophy of life that I’ve been trying to live up to. It echoes the idea that you can’t control things that happen to you, but you can control how you react to them.
Precisely, Nana. I try to live by that. I don’t always succeed, but I try.
Mine: “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
Love it, Laura. Never read that quote before. Thank you!
“…I know these things. I know them better than anybody else possibly could, so it’s my duty to testify about them.” — Ursula K. Le Guin
That’s it. Mine are not wizards and dragons, but the yearning of the chronically ill/disabled to be allowed to want, to achieve, and to be recognized as fully human, like everyone else. It didn’t start that way, but that’s what it’s become.
It’s my duty – and my very great honor – to be allowed to testify FOR them.
It’s an admirable mission, Alicia. Good for you!
Count me as another fan of Ursula’s quote.
Inspiring blog, Sue.
Thanks, Elaine. Thrilled you enjoyed it. 🤗
Thanks, Sue. I Iove writing quotes. Sometimes you have to be careful about attributions. A famous one is “It is easy to write. Just sit in front of your typewriter and bleed.” On social media it’s always attributed to Hemingway. But he never said it. There isn’t even a parallel universe where he said it. It was either Paul Gallico or Red Smith.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/09/14/writing-bleed/?amp=1
And “grow wings on the way down” belongs to Ray Bradbury:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/06/17/cliff-wings/?amp=1
Someone called “JSB” said: “Write like you’re in love. Edit like you’re in charge.” I’m trying to track him down.
Good luck with the launch!
Thanks for links, Jim! I never want to misquote. Bookmarking the quote investigator and updating Ray Bradbury’s quote. Thanks for catching it.
Love your quote!
Sue, thanks for an inspiring way to wake up! Hard to choose a fave from this collection of wisdom.
Twain’s quote about people who belittle your ambitions vs. those who encourage you is the one that jumped out the most.
Preordered Savage Mayhem and eager to read a story that takes place in my neighborhood. Congratulations, my prolific friend!
Thanks, Debbie! There are so many to love, right? I hit the motherload. LOL
Thank you, my friend! <3 Hope I did it justice. Montana is so beautiful.
I like Le Guin’s take on “write what you know.” That’s a piece of advice that has always driven me NUTS. If I were to take that literally and write only what I know I would have exhausted every bit of possible material long before now. LOL! Writing is about creating–your imagination–that’s what makes writing fun.
Also loved: “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” — Toni Morrison
“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” — Albert Camus. While that sounds a bit lofty, it reminds me of what is so thrilling about reading a book that sticks with you. It typically sticks with you because some moment, some character, some scene profoundly stuck with you. I think of my favorite novel from childhood and the memorable moment of the main character putting their life on the line to save another. We may not be able to keep a civilization from destroying itself but we can surely point to the things that will help us try and avoid it.
Great quotes to start the week!
Well said, Brenda. There’s no better reason to write than to touch lives, IMO.
Thank you for this post. I collect quotes as well. My absolute favorite quote about life is from Howard Thurman — Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
My favorite quote about writing comes from C. S. Lewis — What you want is practice, practice, practice. It doesn’t matter what we write (at least this is my view) at our age, so long as we write continually as well as we can. I feel that every time I write a page either of prose or of verse, with real effort, even if it’s thrown into the fire the next minute, I am so much further on.
Love both quotes, Michelle. Thanks for sharing!
Such an inspiring post, Sue! So many great quotes, almost all of which resonated with me. These two in particular did:
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” — George Eliot
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” — Plato
I’ve been working as hard as I ever had this past month on revising “Book Drop Dead,” and am now punch drunk from all that revising, unsure if the book works because I’ve been so deep in it these past five weeks. Just the last few scenes left to revise and then the novel, finally, goes to my betas. I didn’t know how much I needed to read inspiring quotes by writers this morning. Thank you.
Congratulations on your upcoming release! You are in inspiration, my friend. Hope you have a wonderful week.
My pleasure, Dale! Pleased it hit home for you today.
Thank you! You too. 😀
Nothing like a little Twain in the morning to get the brain working. I have visited Hannibal several times. I great day trip if you are nearby.
Given being the IT guy, These are three of my favorites.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Arthur C. Clarke
Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not.
Robert Kennedy (I learned that Mr. Kennedy was quoting Robert Burns.)
“Technology is a gift of G-d. After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of G-d’s gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and of sciences.” Freeman Dyson
—-
A bonus from an engineer. “Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble.”
― Sir Henry Royce
Great quotes, Alan. Not sure if I agree technology is a gift from God/Creator/higher power, but He created our magnificent brains so… I get the gist. Thanks for adding to the discussion!
Ironic we’re talking quotes at TKZ & this morning this one hits my box which does have bearing on making time for writing as well as the other things we want to accomplish in life:
“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life that you don’t need to escape from.” ~ Seth Godin
Wow. Powerful one, Brenda. Love it. 😀
Great post, Sue.
“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” — Albert Camus.
We may not preach, but we can put on display all the evil, unjust, ugly, inhumane examples with which we are surrounded for all the world to see – to open the eyes of the world.
Congrats on SAVAGE MAYHEM. I preordered this morning. Keep on showcasing the endangered!
Well said, Steve.
Always will, my friend. Thank you!
Sue, this is gold! And on a Monday! And on April Fool’s Day! 🙂
My favorite on your list: Don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose. ~C.S. Lewis
And from my list: Sometimes fear does not subside and one must choose to do it afraid. ~Elisabeth Elliot
I’m teaching a workshop at a writers conference at the end of this month. I’m going to use some of these quotes…so, thanks!
My pleasure, Deb! Love the Elisabeth Elliot quote. Thanks for sharing.
I like Nora Roberts’ writing quote: “Butt in the chair, hands on the keyboard, mind in the story.”
I need to remember that as I try to get back into a routine after my travels.
Yep. Excellent advise. Love your new profile pic, Terry!
Great list, Sue. I also love writing quotes. This one resonates with me:
“You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.” — Annie Proulx
One of my favorites that’s not on your list:
“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” — Richard Bach
Congratulations on Savage Mayhem.
The Bach quote is a favorite of mine, as well, Kay. Thanks for adding it.
Thank you!
Great quotes, Sue! I think my fave is the Ray Bradbury about jumping off a cliff and building your wings on the way down. I’ve done that a time or two! Congrats on the new release and thank you for sharing these timeless quotes!
Me too, Jan! Thank you!
Late to the dance as usual.
I’ve got a couple from people who are not famous or write fancy stuff.
But they did stick with me,.
It’s never too late to have a happy childhood-Alan Douglas
You can fight hate but you can’t fight love-David Ellis.
Excellent quotes, Robert! Thanks for adding them.