Writing Quotes - Page 797

There is a slovenly disrespect for truth and reality that has infected and cross-infected the arts; the values of entertainment are relentlessly in the ascendant, to the extent that it becomes virtually impossible to write a naturalistic fictional sentence without feeling that the fabric of that sentence is already compromised.

Writing, more than any other art, is indexed to the worthiness of the self because it is identified in peoples minds with emotion.

Every time I write a book, I've probably taken five years off my life.

I write Not For the sake of glory Not For the sake of fame Not For the sake of success But for the sake of my soul

From the foot of the pyramids I contemplate twenty centuries, buried in the sand. ... I came here to hold on to fleeting life, and I see all about me only death. ... I write this, not quite knowing what I'm saying, but I dry the ink with the dust of Egyptian queens.

I can sit and dissect for hours, and then write 50 songs about. I always find that inspiring.

I don't really usually write sort of a cheerleader-type lyric.

Writing and performing are to me what water and movement are to sharks.

I write in freehand equivalents because measuring, to me, takes away from the creative process of cooking. Two turns of the pan with EVOO is about two tablespoons.

I cook and I chat. That's what I do. I love to write recipes, but basically, if you had to put it in a nutshell, I cook and I chat.

I don't have to write jokes. I don't have to write insults. If you ask the man of the hour in the hot seat, my mere existence is clearly insult enough.

I'm not a chef. I haven't created any new technique in the kitchen. I'm not a rocket scientist. I think I'm good at writing accessible, fun, and affordable meals for the average American family. That's what I think I'm good at.

I love a lot of American writers, but I think that for the most part the scope of what's accepted as great American writing is very limited. What we have is good, but it's limited. There's not enough engagement with the world. Our literature's not adventurous enough. The influence of MFA writing tends to make things repetitive. The idea that writing can be taught has changed the whole conversation in the U.S.

I need to have one foot inside and one foot outside a culture to be able to write about it. For example, I couldn't write about the gay culture if I were wholly inside or outside of it. Finding that distance is always interesting. I jokingly say that when I'm in America, I write about Beirut, and when I'm in Beirut, I write about America. A lot of my friends in Beirut think I'm more American than Lebanese. Here, my friends think of me more as Lebanese.

I'm surprised how often I'm asked about being a man with a woman narrator. I'm not the first, nor will I be the last. It's been done forever, but we seem to forget that. The whole notion of "write what you know" is not just boring, but wrong. Lately it seems like every novel has to be a memoir. I'm a boring person, but I'm a writer with a relatively vivid imagination. And when people ask me about how I find the voice of a woman, I tell them that my life is run by women.

Don’t ever stop writing. This is the way the world will find out who you are.

Some of our best journalists take themselves even more seriously than the politicians they write about.

At least I can write.

My mother always told me if you write about life, you will always be in the game. Just don't write songs write life. I decided to take her up on that.

The key is to commit crimes so confusing that police feel too stupid to even write a crime report about them.

Writing is an incredibly lonely job.

The most common criticism that I've seen is that I write "popcorn fantasy": lightweight action-adventure. Some people call it that as they explain why they love it for exactly that reason. I'm cool with that, either way. I just nod and let it go.

No one will ever write a fantasy novel better than The Hobbit.

There's way too much pain in this business for anyone who doesn't HAVE to write.

Writing a book for me, I expect, is very similar to the experience of reading the book for my readers.