Writer S Digest Quotes & Sayings

Whatever one wants to say about the conduct of the Iraq War, going to war to remove Saddam Hussein in 2003 was a necessary act. It should and could have been done earlier, had not the Clinton White House, which understood the need, not wasted the opportunity through timidity and bluster. — Arthur L. Herman

The writer must have a good imagination to begin with, but the imagination has to be muscular, which means it must be exercised in a disciplined way, day in and day out, by writing, failing, succeeding and revising.
[The Writer's Digest Interview: Stephen King & Jerry B. Jenkins (Jessica Strawser, Writer's Digest, May/June 2009)] — Stephen King

Being of service is not enough. You must become a servant of the people. When you do, you can demand their commitment in return. — Cesar Chavez

Maybe all the people who say ghosts don't exist are just afraid to admit that they do. — Michael Ende

The novel was simple, heartwarming, painful, and lovely, all in perfect doses." -Writer's Digest Review of Emily Nelson's The Locket — Emily Nelson

I'll tell you a thing that will shock you. It will certainly shock the readers of Writer's Digest. What I often do nowadays when I have to, say, describe a room, is to take a page of a dictionary, any page at all, and see if with the words suggested by that one page in the dictionary I can build up a room, build up a scene. ... I even did it in a novel I wrote called MF. There's a description of a hotel vestibule whose properties are derived from Page 167 in R.J. Wilkinson's Malay-English Dictionary. Nobody has noticed. ... As most things in life are arbitrary anyway, you're not doing anything naughty, you're really normally doing what nature does, you're just making an entity out of the elements. I do recommend it to young writers. — Anthony Burgess

This was going to be the best cup of tea ever, even if it did look piss weak and oily. He took a gentle sip. Motherfuckers. It was coffee. — Simon Dunn

She was so funny, stubborn and courageous and I loved her. But all turned to be fake — M.F. Moonzajer

Pretending doesn't require expensive toys. — Fred Rogers

I always send new writers to 'Writer's Digest Books' line-up of how-to books. I read them all when I was starting out, and they were very helpful. — Gail Z. Martin

I'm never going to sing another song I don't believe in. I'm never going to make another picture I don't believe in. — Elvis Presley

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.
[Writer's Digest, September 1961] — Harper Lee

About novel Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott.
Q: What does the title "Imperfect Birds" mean?
It's a line from a poem by Rumi. The line is "Each must enter the nest made by the other imperfect birds", and it's really about how these kind of scraggly, raggedy nests that are our lives are the sanctuary for other people to step into, and that if you want to see the divine, you really step into the absolute ordinary. When you're at your absolutely most lost and dejected ... where do you go? You go to the nests left by other imperfect birds, you find other people who've gone through it. You find the few people you can talk to about it.
from Writer's Digest May/June 2010 — Anne Lamott

The bonds between people had to be a narcotic. You unwittingly became dependent all the while your heart deteriorates inside out. And then you ended up needing to rely on others and you eventually become unable to do things by yourself.
Then, was it possible that by intending to lend a hand to people that I was actually making them suffer instead? Was I giving birth to people who couldn't stand on their own two feet unless they had help from someone?
Even though we were supposed to teach them how to catch fish and not give them one.
Something that could be easily given to someone was surely a fake. Something that could easily be given away was surely something that could easily be taken away by someone. — Wataru Watari

In overstepping our limitations, in touching the extreme boundaries of man's world, we have come to know something of its true splendor, — Maurice Herzog

A man has to know his limitations. — Harry Callahan

I don't believe in being serious about anything. I think life is too serious to be taken seriously.
[Writer's Digest Interview (Robert Jacobs, Writer's Digest, February 1976)] — Ray Bradbury

Define history. Was it the sequence of factual past events, the stories about the factual sequence of past events, or the interpretation of the stories about past events? — Josh Lanyon

We were put here on earth to act as agents of the Infinite, to bring into existence that which is not yet, but which will be, through us. — Steven Pressfield

You have to understand that people feel threatened by a writer. It's very curious. He knows something they don't know. He knows how to write, and that's a subtle, disturbing quality he has. Some directors without even knowing it, resent the writer in the same way Bob Hope might resent the fact he ain't funny without twelve guys writing the jokes. The director knows the script he is carrying around on the set every day was written by someone, and that's just not something that all directors easily digest. — Ernest Lehman

Yet should there hover in their restless heads
One thought, one grace, one wonder at the least,
Which into words no virtue can digest. — Christopher Marlowe

My philosophy has always been if I can learn just one thing from an article or book on writing, it's worth it. — Writer's Digest Books

Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefullness, and gratefullness is a measure of our aliveness. — David Steindl-Rast