Writing Quotes - Page 37

I think because I came into journalism by way of the Black Panther Party - and not J-school or a corporate bourgeois institution - I tried to do news, writing and reporting that had social, political and racial content and context.

Every word written is a victory against death.

I believe there's a common ground in what all gifted writers write. It has to do with their wish to turn darkness into light.

The cutting of the gem has to be finished before you can see whether it shines.

The reader has certain rights. He bought your story. Think of this as an implicit contract. He's entitled to be entertained, instructed, amused; maybe all three. If he quits in the middle, or puts the book down feeling his time has been wasted, you're in violation.

I don't think you get to good writing unless you expose yourself and your feelings. Deep songs don't come from the surface; they come from the deep down. The poetry and the songs that you are suppose to write, I believe are in your heart.

For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal.

What you have to realize when you write poetry, or if you love poetry, is that poetry is just naturally the greatest god damn thing that ever was in the whole universe

I am so fond of tea that I could write a whole dissertation on its virtues. It comforts and enlivens without the risks attendant on spirituous liquors. Gentle herb! Let the florid grape yield to thee. Thy soft influence is a more safe inspirer of social joy.

Freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they have, or the views they express, or the words they speak or write.

I get out my work and have a show for myself before I have it publicly. I make up my own mind about it-how good or bad or indifferent it is. After that, the critics can write what they please. I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.

I'm not happy when I'm writing, but I'm more unhappy when I'm not.

Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel. Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.

Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you can't erase it.

Writing is the art of applying the ass to the seat.

It's easier to find a new audience than to write a new speech.

I do what I do, and write what I write, without calculating what is worth what and so on. Fortunately, I am not a banker or an accountant. I feel that there is a time when a political statement needs to be made and I make it.

If you truly love a book, you should sleep with it, write in it, read aloud from it, and fill its pages with muffin crumbs.

I think the deeper you go into questions, the deeper or more interesting the questions get. And I think that's the job of art.

The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.

The artist is always engaged in writing a detailed history of the future because he is the only person aware of the nature of the present.

Although I write in English, and despite the fact that I'm from America, I consider myself an Armenian writer. The words I use are in English, the surroundings I write about are American, but the soul, which makes me write, is Armenian. This means I am an Armenian writer and deeply love the honor of being a part of the family of Armenian wrtiters.

I think all writing is a disease. You can't stop it.

Time, which is your enemy in almost everything in this life, is your friend in writing.

Jesus has many who love the kingdom of God, but few who bear a cross. He has many who desire His comfort, but few who desire His suffering. All want to rejoice with him, but few are willing to suffer for Him. He writes; there are many who admire his miracles, but there are few who follow in the humiliation of the cross.