Anne McCaffrey Quotes

I have a shelf of comfort books, which I read when the world closes in on me or something untoward happens

Make no judgments where you have no compassion.

Who wills, Can. Who tries, Does. Who loves, Lives.

Tell a story! Don't try to impress your reader with style or vocabulary or neatly turned phrases. Tell the story first!

How much can a dragon carry? As much as it thinks it can

Living is struggling to do something impossible; To succeed or die, knowing that you had tried.

Fear has its uses but cowardice has none.

Step by step Moment by moment We live through Another day

Above us, outlined against the brilliant sky, dragons crowded every available perching space on the Rim. And the sun made a gold of every one of them.

Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.

The blackest night must end in dawn, the light dispel the dreamer's fear.

A real scientist solves problems, not wails that they are unsolvable.

That's what writing is all about, after all, making others see what you have put down on the page and believing that it does, or could, exist and you want to go there.

Mostly I'm telling people that they don't have to be victims

To cry was to release all sorts of ugly little pressures and tensions. Like waking out of a long, dark dream to a sun-filled day.

But I will say that living in Ireland has changed the cadence and fullness of speech, since the Irish love words and use as many of them in a sentence as possible

My eyes are green, my hair is silver and I freckly; the rest is subject to change without notice.

James Blish told me I had the worst case of "said bookism" (that is, using every word except said to indicate dialogue). He told me to limit the verbs to said, replied, asked, and answered and only when absolutely necessary.

Fight only in direst need Not for lust or petty greed Honor those that do give birth Respect them well for their full worth

Because we build the worlds we wouldn't mind living in. They contain scary things, problems, but also a sense of rightness that makes them alive and makes us want to live there.

The horse, the noblest, bravest, proudest, most courageous and certainly the most perverse and infuriating animal that humans ever domesticated

I think writers need windows on a view to remind them that a whole world is out there, not the minutiae with which they might be dealing on a close scale

I do outlines when I'm writing with someone, but they also need to have a certain amount of freedom

What I used to do between writing fits was feed my kids, ride my horse and go shopping for cat and dog food.

I wouldn't encourage new writers to start off publishing through electronic media... it still isn't wide enough for the readership they would need to get a good start