A few thoughts on writing – Part II

I saw an interview a few years ago where Tom Hanks, the actor of Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, and many other movies, talked about his hobby of collecting vintage typewriters. He appreciates the craftsmanship and history behind them. His personal collection numbers about 250 machines.

I’m nothing like Hanks. No Academy Awards in my closet. Hanks has two, but we’re alike in odd collections. He collects typewriters, I collect quotes on writing.

I ran my first post on writing quotes last week in my post, A few thoughts on writing, here’s version number two.

Some of my favorites:

“Writing is an act of discovering what you think and what you believe.” —Dan Pink

“I can’t write a book commensurate with Shakespeare, I can write a book by me.” —Sir Walter Raleigh

“Write even when the world is chaotic.” —Cory Doctorow

“You fail only if you stop writing.” —Ray Bradbury

“The most important thing in writing is to have written. I can always fix a bad page. I can’t fix a blank one.” ―Nora Roberts

“You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.” ―F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The purpose of life is to find your gifts, the meaning is to give them away.” —Pablo Picasso

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.” ―Anne Lamott

“Writing a novel is like building a wall brick-by-brick; only amateurs believe in inspiration. ―Frank Yerby

“Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret of style.” ―Matthew Arnold

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ―Leonardo da Vinci

 Image by Jakob Feller by Pexels.

“When asked, ‘How do you write?’ I invariably answer, ‘one word at a time.'” ―Stephen King

“Write. Just do it. Then again. Then some more. And more. Do not wait for inspiration; if you do enough of it often enough, inspiration will eventually come.” ―Nancy Kress

“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” —Anne Frank

“Tears are words that need to be written.” —Paulo Coelho

“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” —E. B. White

“Imagination is like a muscle. I found out that the more I wrote, the bigger it got.” —Philip José Farmer

“I have been successful probably because I have always realized that I knew nothing about writing and have merely tried to tell an interesting story entertainingly.” —Edgar Rice Burroughs

“Ours is a trade of perseverance, not perfection.” —David Safford

“Nobody is a villain in their own story.” —George R. R. Martin

“Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.” —William Penn

Image by Abby Chung by Pexels.

“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at 9 a.m. every morning.” —Peter DeVries

“We spend so much time being afraid of failure, being afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most.” —Trevor Noah

“We are not here to compare and compete, we are here to create.” —Sam Horn

“Be brave enough to be your true self.” —Queen Latifah

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” —Jack London

“Write your first draft with your heart. Rewrite with your head.” —Mike Rich

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” —Margaret Atwood

“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of.” —Joss Whedon

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.” —Isaac Asimov

Image by Marta Wave by Pexels.

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” —Toni Morrison

“Read, read, read. Read everything  — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.” —William Faulkner

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” —Thomas Mann

“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

“Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.” ―Rainer Maria Rilke

Image by Karolina Grabowska by Pexels.

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” —Anaïs Nil

“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” —Thomas Jefferson

“There are approximately 1,010,300 words in the English language, but I could never string enough words together to properly express how much I want to hit you with a chair.”  ―Alexander Hamilton to Thomas Jefferson

“Those who stand for nothing fall for everything.” ―Alexander Hamilton

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time to write. Simple as that.” ―Stephen King

“Men of few words are the best men.” ―William Shakespeare

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” ―Stephen King

“Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage-to move in the opposite direction.” ―Albert Einstein