150 Famous Writing Quotes to Inspire You Right Now

150 Famous Writing Quotes to Inspire You Right Now 150 Famous Writing Quotes to Help You During Every Stage of Writing When you're feeling stuck on your novel, an important thing to remember is that we've all been there in the past. That's right - even the J.K Rowling's and Ernest Hemingway's of this world. Which is why it's always a great idea to turn to your most famous peers (and their writing quotes) for inspiration.Without further ado, here are 170 writing quotes  to guide you through every stage of writing. (Yes! We've added more since we first published this post!) Discover 170 famous writing quotes inside to inspire your own writing! The number one piece of advice that most authors have for other authors is to read, read, read. Here’s why.1. â€Å"If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.† - Stephen King2. â€Å"You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.† - Annie Proulx3. â€Å"Indeed, learning to write may be part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading.† - Eudora Welty4. â€Å"Read, read, read. Read everything  -  trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.† - William Faulkner5. â€Å"I kept always two books in my pocke t: one to read, one to write in.† - Robert Louis Stevenson6. â€Å"The Six Golden Rules of Writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write.† - Ernest Gaines7. â€Å"The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.† - Samuel Johnson8. â€Å"Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.† ― Lisa See9. â€Å"One sure window into a person’s soul is his reading list.† - Mary B. W. Tabor As any writer knows, there are no actual â€Å"rules† in this craft. That said, these writing quotes reveal some famous principles in writing that won’t let you down.125. â€Å"Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.† ― Anton Chekhov126. â€Å"My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.† - Anton Chekhov127. â€Å"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.† - Somerset Maugham128. â€Å"Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.† - Stephen King129. â€Å"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.† - Mark Twain130. â€Å"Find your best time of the day for writing and write. Don†™t let anything else interfere. Afterwards it won’t matter to you that the kitchen is a mess.† - Esther Freud131. â€Å"Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. is, you really need less†¦ My model for this is late Beethoven. He moves so strangely and quite suddenly sometimes from place to place in his music, in the late quartets. He knows where he’s going and he just doesn’t want to waste all that time getting there†¦ One is aware of this as one gets older. You can’t waste time.† - Ursula K. Le Guin140. â€Å"Part 1. I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English - it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in.Part 2. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them – then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when t hey are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart.Part 3. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.† - Mark Twain "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by," and more writing quotes inside â€Å"You miss 100% of the shots that you never take - Wayne Gretsky,† as Michael Scott once said. In tribute to this sentiment, these writing quotes help show why it’s important not to let failure or rejection get you down.141. â€Å"You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.† - John Wooden142. â€Å"Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil - but there is no way around them.† - Isaac Asimov143. â€Å"Was I bitter? Absolutely. Hurt? You bet your sweet ass I was hurt. Who doesn’t feel a part of their heart break at rejection. You ask yourself every question you can think of, what, why, how come, and then your sadness turns to anger. That’s my favorite part. It drives me, feeds me, and makes one hell of a story.† - Jennifer Salaiz144. â€Å"I love my rejection slips. They show me I t ry.† - Sylvia Plath145. â€Å"I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent, he would be wise to develop a thick hide.† - Harper Lee147. â€Å"I used to save all my rejection slips because I told myself, one day I’m going to autograph these and auction them. And then I lost the box.† - James Lee Burke148. â€Å"This manuscript of yours that has just come back from another editor is a precious package. Don’t consider it rejected. Consider that you’ve addressed it ‘to the editor who can appreciate my work’ and it has simply come back stamped ‘Not at this address’. Just keep looking for the right address.† - Barbara Kingsolver149. â€Å"To ward off a feeling of failure, she joked that she could wallpaper her bathroom with rejection slips, which she chose not to see as messages to stop, but rather as tickets to the game.† - Anita Shreve150. â€Å"Remember: whe n people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.† - Neil Gaiman151. â€Å"The artist doesn’t have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don’t have the time to read reviews.† - William Faulkner152. â€Å"I think that you have to believe in your destiny; that you will succeed, you will meet a lot of rejection and it is not always a straight path, there will be detours - so enjoy the view.† - Michael York153. â€Å"I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged.† - Erica Jong154. â€Å"I tell writers to keep reading, reading, reading. Read widely and deeply. And I tell them not to give up even after getting rejection letters. And only write what you love.â₠¬  - Anita Diamant155. â€Å"I could write an entertaining novel about rejection slips, but I fear it would be overly long.† - Louise Brown156. â€Å"I had immediate success in the sense that I sold something right off the bat. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake and it really wasn’t. I have drawers full of - or I did have - drawers full of rejection slips.† - Fred Saberhagen157. â€Å"An absolutely necessary part of a writer’s equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.† - Irwin Shaw158. â€Å"Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.† - C. S. LewisWhy does writing matter? If there’s anyone who might know the answer, it’s the people who write - and continue to write, despite adverse circumstances. Here are a few pennies for their thoughts.159. â€Å"Every secret of a wri ter’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.† - Virginia Woolf160. â€Å"If the book is true, it will find an audience that is meant to read it.† - Wally Lamb161. â€Å"A word after a word after a word is power.† - Margaret Atwood162. â€Å"If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.† - Martin Luther163. â€Å"The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.† - Albert Camus164. â€Å"Good fiction’s job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.† - David Foster Wallace165. â€Å"After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.† - Philip Pullman166. â€Å"All stories have to at least try to explain some small portion of the meaning of life.† - Gene Weingarten167. â€Å"If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.† - Peter Handke168. à ¢â‚¬Å"The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.† - Tom Clancy169. â€Å"If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don’t listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.† - Lillian Hellman170. â€Å"Don’t take anyone’s writing advice too seriously.† - Lev GrossmanOf course, writing quotes by themselves won't write the book for you - you alone have that power. However, we hope that this post has helped inspire you in some way! If you're looking for more in-depth resources, you can check out these guides:How to Write a NovelHow to Develop a Strong ThemeHow to Build a Character ProfileHow to Become a Better Writer TodayHave a favorite quote that we missed? If you know of more cool quotes by writers, write them in the comments!