Quotes in this theme
Others
Thomas Carlyle
Literature will neither yield thee bread, nor a stomach to digest bread with; quit it in God’s name .
10
T. S. Eliot
Taking the question in general, I should say, in the case of many poets, that the most important thing for them to do … is to write as little as possible.
9
William Saroyan
To write successful dialogue the author must have access to the mind of all his characters, but the reader must not perceive any more than he would in real life.
15
John Updike
I really don’t want to encourage younger writers. Keep them down and out and silent is my motto. Do they talk about encouraging younger actresses? No. You don’t want any younger actress to come along and outshine you.
6
Edith Wharton
Dialogue in fiction should be reserved for the culminating moments and regarded as the spray into which the great wave of narrative breaks in curving toward the watcher on the shore.
12
Tennessee Williams
The best thing you can do about critics is never say a word. In the end you have the last say, and they know it.
11
Lord Byron
As soon Seek roses in December—ice in June; Hope constancy in wind, or corn in chaff; Believe a woman or an epitaph, Or any other thing that’s false, before You trust in critics.
10
Truman Capote
Never demean yourself by talking back to a critic.… Write those letters to the editor in your head, but don’t put them on paper.
9
Samuel Johnson
It is advantageous to an author that his book should be attacked as well as praised. Fame is a shuttlecock. If it be struck at only one end of the room, it will soon fall to the ground. To keep it up, it must be struck at both ends.
8
Samuel Johnson
It is advantageous to an author that his book should be attacked as well as praised. Fame is a shuttlecock. If it be struck at only one end of the room, it will soon fall to the ground. To keep it up, it must be struck at both ends.
8
William Faulkner
The artists who want to be writers, read the reviews; the artists who want to write, don’t.
8
William Faulkner
The artists who want to be writers, read the reviews; the artists who want to write, don’t.
8
John Berryman
I would recommend the cultivation of extreme indifference to both praise and blame because praise will lead you to vanity, and blame will lead you to self-pity, and both are bad for writers.
27
John Berryman
I would recommend the cultivation of extreme indifference to both praise and blame because praise will lead you to vanity, and blame will lead you to self-pity, and both are bad for writers.
27
Thornton Wilder
The important thing is that you make sure that neither the favorable nor the unfavorable critics move into your head and take part in the composition of your next work.
16
Thornton Wilder
The important thing is that you make sure that neither the favorable nor the unfavorable critics move into your head and take part in the composition of your next work.
16
Jean Cocteau
Listen carefully to first criticisms of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don’t like—then cultivate it. That’s the part of your work that’s individual and worth keeping.
23
Jean Cocteau
Listen carefully to first criticisms of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don’t like—then cultivate it. That’s the part of your work that’s individual and worth keeping.
23
Henry Miller
Artists never thrive in colonies. Ants do. What the budding artist needs is the privilege of wrestling with his problems in solitude—and now and then a piece of red meat.
12
Ernest Hemingway
For Christ sake write and don’t worry what the boys will say nor whether it will be a masterpiece nor what. I write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages of shit. I try to put the shit in the waste-basket.… Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to be hurt like hell before you can write seriously .
11
Ernest Hemingway
For Christ sake write and don’t worry what the boys will say nor whether it will be a masterpiece nor what. I write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages of shit. I try to put the shit in the waste-basket.… Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to be hurt like hell before you can write seriously .
11
