Home / Topics / Good Writing Quotes

Good Writing Quotes

Browse 245 quotes about Good Writing.

Good Writing Quotes

“If the communication is perfect, the words have life, and that is all there is to good writing, putting down on the paper words which dance and weep and make love and fight and kiss and perform miracles.”

Ifs Writing Fighting Perfect Communication Kissing Paper Miracle Making Love Good Writing

Author:Gertrude Stein

“Writing stopped being fun when I discovered the difference between good writing and bad and, even more terrifying, the difference between it and true art. And after that, the whip came down.”

Writing Art Fun Differences Scary Whips Good Writing

Author:Truman Capote

“There is more good writing and good acting in any ten minutes of Twister than in, say, all of Citizen Kane.”

Writing House Acting Minutes Citizens Ten Good Writing Good Acting Citizen Kane Twister

Author:Orson Scott Card

“Good writing is remembering detail. Most people want to forget. Don't forget things that were painful or embarrassing or silly. Turn them into a story that tells the truth.”

People Want Writing Stories Remember Turns Forget Painful Details Silly Telling The Truth Embarrassing Good Writing

Author:Paula Danziger

“If you have other things in your life-family, friends, good productive day work-these can interact with your writing and the sum will be all the richer.”

Ifs Writing Productive Writing Life Family Life Good Writing Good Writers Writers And Writing Family Friends Writing By Writers Creativity And Writing Inspiration To Write

Author:David Brin

“Anecdotes don't make good stories. Generally I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about.”

People Writing Stories Good Story Good Writing Good Writers Fiction Writing Writers And Writing Fiction Writers Writing Fiction Writing By Writers Anecdotes Story Writing Writing Stories Creativity And Writing Story Writers

Author:Alice Munro

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any.”

“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.”

“The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything.”

People Knows Writing Book Reason Written Reason Why Good Book Good Writing Book Writing

Book:Literary Studies: The first Edinburgh reviewers (1855) Hartley Coleridge (1852) Percy Bysshe Shelley (1856) Shakespeare the man (1853) John Milton (1859) Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1862) William Cowper (1855) Appendices; Letters on the French coup d̓etat

Source: Literary Studies: The first Edinburgh reviewers (1855) Hartley Coleridge (1852) Percy Bysshe Shelley (1856) Shakespeare the man (1853) John Milton (1859) Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1862) William Cowper (1855) Appendices; Letters on the French coup d̓etat

“The secret of good writing is to say an old thing in a new way or to say a new thing in an old way.”

Way Writing Secret New Things New Ways Good Writing Old Ways Old Things

Author:Richard Harding Davis

“The secret of all good writing is sound judgment.”

Writing Sound Secret Judgment Good Writing Sound Judgment

Book:Complete Works

Source: Complete Works

“An essential element for good writing is a good ear: One must listen to the sound of one's own prose.”

Writing Sound Essentials Elements Ears Prose Good Writing

Author:Barbara Tuchman

“The test of any good fiction is that you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the bad to fail. The trouble with most fiction is that you want them all to land in hell, together, as quickly as possible.”

Want Should Writing Character Care Together Fiction Hell Failing Trouble Land Succeed Tests Good Writing Good Writers Fiction Writers Bad Writing

Author:Mark Twain

“There is no satisfactory explanation of style, no infallible guide to good writing, no assurance that a person who thinks clearly will be able to write clearly, no key that unlocks the door, no inflexible rules by which the young writer may steer his course. He will often find himself steering by stars that are disturbingly in motion.”

Thinking Writing May Persons Able Young Courses Stars Doors Style Keys Guides Explanation Assurance Steers Good Writing Infallible Steering Young Writers

Book:the elements of style

Source: the elements of style

“Writing, or at least good writing, is an outgrowth of that urge to use language to communicate complex ideas and experiences between people. And that's true whether you're reading Shakespeare or bad vampire fiction-reading is always an act of empathy. It's always an imagining of what it's like to be someone else.”

People Writing Ideas Use Reading Language Fiction Empathy Complexes Communicate Vampire Urges Good Writing Reading Shakespeare

Author:John Green

“Write about what you know and care deeply about. When one puts one's self on paper - that is what is called good writing.”

Knows Writing Self Care Paper Good Writing

Author:Joel Chandler Harris

“The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis.”

Writing Age Products Neurotic Neurosis Good Writing Good Writers Young Writers

Book:Conversations with William Styron

Source: Conversations with William Styron

“Of course, the fact that Dostoevsky can tell a juicy story isn't enough to make him great. If it were, Judith Krantz and John Grisham would be great fiction writers, and by any but the most commercial standards they're not even very good.”

Ifs Writing Enough Facts Stories Would Be Courses Fiction Standards Very Good Good Writing Fiction Writers Juicy

Author:David Foster Wallace

“Only bad writers think that their work is really good.”

Thinking Writing Good Writing

Author:Anne Enright

“Good writing is a kind of skating which carries off the performer where he would not go.”

Writing Kind Carrie Performers Skating Good Writing

Book:The Topical Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Source: The Topical Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It takes a lot of bad writing to get to a little good writing.”

Writing Littles Good Writing Bad Writing

Author:Truman Capote

“Good writing is rewriting.”

Writing Good Writing Rewriting

Author:Truman Capote

“Good writing is essentially rewriting.”

Writing Good Writing Rewriting

Author:Roald Dahl

“In good writing, words become one with things.”

Writing Good Writing Writing Words

Book:The Topical Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Source: The Topical Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If you don't allow yourself the possibility of writing something very, very bad, it would be hard to write something very good.”

Ifs Writing Hard Would Be Possibility Very Good Good Writing

Author:Steven Galloway

“The chief difference between good writing and better writing may be measured by the number of imperceptible hesitations the reader experiences as he goes along.”

Writing May Differences Numbers Reader Chiefs Hesitation Good Writing

Book:The Writer's Art

Source: The Writer's Art

“Avoid theatrical flourishes - the phrases that sound so damned good that they stand up and beg to be recognized as "good writing," and therefore must be struck from the text.”

Writing Sound Phrases Theatrical Good Writing

Author:Donald Spoto

“Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident. . . . Every little qualifier whittles away some fraction of the reader's trust. Readers want a writer who believes in himself and in what he is saying. Don't diminish that belief. Don't be kind of bold. Be bold.”

Want Writing Believe Kind Littles Belief Reader Prose Be Kind Diminish Fractions Good Writing Timidity

Author:William Zinsser

“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.”

Writing May Matter Today Hell Tomorrow Writing Advice Good Writing Good Writers Short Writing

Author:Neil Gaiman

“Good writing is lean and confident.”

Writing Good Writing

Book:On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction

Source: On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction

“Good writing is full of surprises and novelties, moving in a direction you don't expect.”

Writing Moving Surprise Novelty Good Writing Moving In

Book:From a Tiny Corner in the House of Fiction: Conversations with Iris Murdoch

Source: From a Tiny Corner in the House of Fiction: Conversations with Iris Murdoch

“By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.”

Writing Firsts Has Beens Ends Stories Hundred Speed Fifty Suspicious Facility Altered Good Writing Rewriting

Author:Roald Dahl

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

“Good sense is both the first principal and the parent source of good writing.”

Writing Firsts Literature Parent Source Parenthood Principal Good Sense Good Writing

Author:Horace

“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.”

Thinking Writing Believe Heart Feelings Song I Believe Surface Songwriting Deep Down Good Writing

Author:Judy Collins

“I want to keep doing different things. I'd like to do a more personal, dramatic movie next, I think. But as long as it's about characters and good writing and good parts for actors, that's what's important”

Thinking Want Writing Long Important Different Character Next Actors Dramatic Different Things What's Important Good Writing

Author:Tony Goldwyn

“The secret of good writing is telling the truth.”

Writing Secret Telling The Truth Good Writing

Author:Gordon Lish

“I don't think that writing, real writing, has much to do with affirming belief--if anything it causes rifts and gaps in belief which make belief more complex and more textured, more real. Good writing unsettles, destroys both the author and the reader. From my perspective, there always has to be a tension between the writer and the monolithic elements of the culture, such as religion.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Real Culture Belief Causes Perspective Reader Elements Complexes Tension Gaps Good Writing Affirming Rift

Author:Brian Evenson

“Good writing can be defined as having something to say and saying it well. When one has nothing to say, one should remain silent. Silence is always beautiful at such times.”

Should Writing Wells Beautiful Silence Silent Defined Silence Is Good Writing

Book:A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

Source: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

“The only good writing is intuitive writing. It would be a big bore if you knew where it was going. It has to be exciting, instantaneous and it has to be a surprise. Then it all comes blurting out and it’s beautiful. I’ve had a sign by my typewriter for 25 years now which reads, ‘DON’T THINK!’”

Ifs Thinking Writing Years Bigs Would Be Beautiful Exciting Surprise Bores Intuitive Typewriters Good Writing Instantaneous

Author:Ray Bradbury

“Brendan O’Meara’s Six Weeks in Saratoga is a victory to be savored by those who treasure good writing in general and tales of the track in particular. Horses may win races, but they also win hearts as this impressive book proves beyond doubt. A memorable, sure-footed debut.”

Writing Heart May Book Winning Race Doubt Week Particular Victory Prove Six Horse Track Treasure Tales Memorable Impressive Good Writing Debut

Author:Madeleine Blais

“All the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another.”

Writing Creative Depends Skills Elements Creative Writing One Word Good Writing Choosing One

Book:Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them

Source: Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them

“Let us prove to the world that good taste, good art, and good writing can be good selling.”

World Writing Art Taste Prove Be Good Selling Good Writing Good Taste Good Art Copywriting

Author:William Bernbach

“The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what—these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur in proportion to the education and rank.”

Writing Long Secret Reader Thousand Function Sentences Proportion Carrie Construction Passive Components Verbs Good Writing Unsure Adverbs Short Words Long Words

Author:William Zinsser

“The point of good writing is knowing when to stop.”

Inspirational Writing Knowing Good Writing

Author:Lucy Maud Montgomery

“To my mind, nothing is as important as good writing, because in literature, the walls between people and cultures are broken down, and the things that plague us most—suspicion and fear of the other, and the tendency to see whole groups of people as objects, as monoliths of one cultural stereotype or another—are defeated. This work is not done as a job, ladies and gentlemen, it is done out of love for the art and the artists who brought it forth, and who still bring it forth to us, down the years and across ignorance and chaos and borderlines.”

“Good writing never soothes or comforts. It is no prescription, neither is it diversionary, although it can and should enchant while it explodes in the reader's face.”

Should Writing Faces Reader Comfort Prescriptions Good Writing

Book:Ill Nature: Rants and Reflections on Humanity and Other Animals

Source: Ill Nature: Rants and Reflections on Humanity and Other Animals

“The first is that good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals (vocabulary, grammar, the elements of style) and then filling the third level of your toolbox with the right instruments. The second is that while it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one”

“I never read prefaces, and it is not much good writing things just for people to skip. I wonder other authors have never thought of this.”

People Writing Wonder Good Writing Skip

Book:Delphi Complete Novels of E. Nesbit

Source: Delphi Complete Novels of E. Nesbit

“If a man means his writing seriously, he must mean to write well. But how can he write well until he learns to see what he has written badly. His progress toward good writing and his recognition of bad writing are bound to unfold at something like the same rate.”

Ifs Men Writing Wells Mean Progress Written Rate Bounds Recognition Good Writing Bad Writing

Author:John Ciardi