Quotes on Writing

I have a HUGE collection of quotes about writing. I thought I would share a few from time to time. These are offered in no particular order - just as I come across them in one of my quote journals (in this case, the green one):

As a young man, I realized that I was doomed, or elected, or sentenced for life to the writing of poetry. Edwin A. Robinson

I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure. J.D. Salinger

I have drawers in my mind, so many drawers. I have hundreds of materials in these drawers. I take out the images and memories that I need. Haruki Murakami (Japanese novelist)

From "How to Be a Writer" by Lorrie Moore: First, try to be something, anything else. A movie star/astronaut. A movie star/missionary. A movie star/Kindergarten teacher. President of the world. Fail miserably. It is best if you fail at an early age - say 14. Early, critical disillusionment is necessary so that at 15 you can write long haiku sequences about thwarted desire.

If there were a special hell for writers it would be in the forced contemplation of their own works. John Dos Passos

Dickens makes his books blaze up not by tightening the plot or sharpening the wit, but by throwing another handful of people upon the fire. Virginia Woolf

If only I could manage, without annoyance to my family, to get imprisoned for ten years, without hard labor, and with the use of books and writing materials, it would be simply delightful. Lewis Carroll

Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress. When I get tired of the one, I spend the night with the other. Anton Chekhov

And my favorite from this little group of quotes:

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. Anton Chekhov