Writing Quotes

There was a great historian lost in Wolverstone. He had the right imagination that knows just how far it is safe to stray from the truth and just how far to colour it so as to change its shape for his own purposes. ~ Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini An intelligent observation of the facts of human existence will reveal to shallow-minded folk who sneer at the use of coincidence in the arts of fiction and drama that life itself is little more than a series of coincidences. ~ Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini I know that journalism largely consists in saying "Lord Jones Dead" to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive. ~ The Wisdom of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures." ~ The Red-Headed League by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "In other countries, art and literature are left to a lot of shabby bums living in attics and feeding on booze and spaghetti, but in America the successful writer or picture-painter is indistinguishable from any other decent business man." ~ Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis "And a word carries far--very far--deals destruction through time as the bullets go flying through space." ~ Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality. ~ Under Western Eyes by Joseph Conrad "Literature nowadays is a trade. Putting aside men of genius, who may succeed by mere cosmic force, your successful man of letters is your skilful tradesman. He thinks first and foremost of the markets . . . " ~ New Grub Street by George Gissing The end of a novel, like the end of a children's dinner-party, must be made up of sweetmeats and sugar-plums. ~ Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily. ~ Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope