Authors:
  1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. M
  4. Malcolm Gladwell
  5. Writing

Malcolm Gladwell Quotes about Writing

All Malcolm Gladwell Quotes Achievement Attitude Balance Business Challenges Children Community Country Crime Effort Environment Feelings Genius Giving Giving Up Greatness Hard Work Heart Innovation Inspirational Intuition Journalism Judging Judgment Leadership Lying Math Morning Motivation Motivational Opportunity Persistence Police Quality Reading Risk Running School Sports Storytelling Success Talent Teaching Technology Today Understanding Values Vision Winning Writing quotes
The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world.

The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world.

Malcolm Gladwell
Leadership, Writing, Creativity
"The Tweaker" by Malcolm Gladwell, www.newyorker.com. November 14, 2011.

Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head.

Malcolm Gladwell
Success, Communication, Writing

My writing model is my mother, who is a writer as well. She always valued clarity and simplicity above all else. If someone doesn't understand what you're writing, then everything else you do is superfluous. Irrelevant. If any thoughtful, curious reader finds what I do impenetrable, I've failed.

Malcolm Gladwell
Mother, Writing, Thoughtful
Goodreads interview, www.goodreads.com. December, 2008.

Clear writing is universal. People talk about writing down to an audience or writing up to an audience; I think that's nonsense. If you write in a way that is clear, transparent, and elegant, it will reach everyone.

Malcolm Gladwell
Writing, Thinking, People
Goodreads Interview, www.goodreads.com. December, 2008.

Nothing frustrates me more than someone who reads something of mine or anyone else's and says, angrily, 'I don't buy it.' Why are they angry? Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head—even if in the end you conclude that someone else's head is not a place you'd really like to be.

Malcolm Gladwell
Writing, Thinking, Giving

We prematurely write off people as failures. We are too much in awe of those who succeed and far too dismissive of those who fail.

Malcolm Gladwell
Writing, People, Too Much
Malcolm Gladwell (2008). “Outliers: The Story of Success”, p.25, Hachette UK

I write my books to challenge my own feelings and theories. Perhaps most surprising was what I learned about rice farming. It was really interesting to think of how different Asian and Western cultures are as a result of the kinds of agricultural practices that our ancestors used for thousands of years. The life of a Chinese peasant in the Middle Ages was so dramatically different from the life of a European peasant - night and day different.

Malcolm Gladwell
Book, Writing, Night

We cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit and that the world in which we all grow up and the rules we choose to write as a society don't matter at all.

Malcolm Gladwell
Growing Up, Writing, Simple
Malcolm Gladwell (2008). “Outliers: The Story of Success”, p.26, Hachette UK

So long as the stereotype is used as a way of understanding how to fix the problem as opposed to demonizing a people or writing them off, then I think it's OK.

Malcolm Gladwell
Writing, Thinking, Long
"The Rumpus Interview With Malcolm Gladwell". Interview with Stephen Elliott, therumpus.net. January 22, 2009.

As a writer, I know that - you write a first draft and then put it in a drawer. The longer I can put it in a drawer, the better off I am. So I structure my writing so that things can sit.

Malcolm Gladwell
Writing, Firsts, Drawers
Interview with Malcolm Gladwell, www.interviewmagazine.com. March 13, 2017.

When writing, you can't break physical rules. You can't have people come back from the dead. That's cheating. I am a kind of narrative fundamentalist in many ways.

Malcolm Gladwell
Cheating, Writing, People
Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

When people reflexively write checks to institutions that have billions of dollars in the bank, they are essentially committing a moral crime. Your money could do good in this world and you're choosing instead to waste it. People have to do a better job of that. You've got to find places where your money's going to do some good and direct your dollars towards that institution.

Malcolm Gladwell
Writing, People, World
Source: www.businessinsider.com

My highest compliment is when someone comes up to me to say, "My 14-year-old daughter, or my 12-year-old son read your book and loved it." I cannot conceive of a greater compliment than that - to write something that as an adult I find satisfying, but also that manages to reach a curious 13- or 14-year-old.

Malcolm Gladwell
Daughter, Book, Writing
Goodreads interview, www.goodreads.com. December, 2008.

You May Also Like: