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Writing Quotes

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Writing Quotes

“I have just finished my sketch of my species theory. If as I believe that my theory is true & if it be accepted even by one competent judge, it will be a considerable step in science. I therefore write this, in case of my sudden death, as my most solemn & last request, which I am sure you will consider the same as if legally entered in my will, that you will devote 400£ to its publication & further will yourself, or through Hensleigh [Wedgwood], take trouble in promoting it.”

Source: On Evolution: The Development of the Theory of Natural Selection

“I know when a story is finished when there is not a single thing more I can think to do to it. And since I know at the start what the last line will be, I know when I've reached that point as logically as I can that it's finished. As for the rewriting-it's not foolproof, of course, but if you're honest about having thought of every possibility and you still come back to what you have, what more can you do?”

Ifs Thinking Knows Writing Stills I Can Stories Lasts Courses Lines Honest Possibility Finished Rewriting Foolproof

Author:Amy Hempel

“Well, I am becoming doddering and old but I have - I'm writing two books a year now. It's like 220,000 words or something like finished, and, honest to God, I can't do that. I really do need the help of, you know, other people working with me.”

People Knows Needs Writing Years Wells I Can Two Book Helping Honest Becoming Finished

Author:John Sandford

“It often happens that things come into the mind in a more finished form than could have been achieved after much study.”

Writing Mind Has Beens Happens Form Study Finished Could Have Been

Author:Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“I found 'The Twin' sitting on a coffee table at a writers' colony in 2009. It carried praise from J.M. Coetzee. That seemed ample justification for using it to avoid my own writing. I finished it - weeping - a day later, and I've been puzzling over its powerful hold on me ever since.”

Writing Found My Own Powerful Sitting Praise Tables Finished Coffee Over It Justification Twins Weeping Colony Puzzling Coetzee

Author:Amy Waldman

“Writing is not something you can do or you can't. It's not even something that 'other people do' or 'for smart people only' or even 'for people who finished school and went to University'. Nonsense. Anyone can do it. But no-one can do it straight off the bat. Like plastering, brain surgery or assembling truck engines, you have to do a bit of training - get your hands dirty - and make some mistakes.”

People Writing Hands School Bits Can Do Mistake Brain Smart Training University Finished Dirty Nonsense Engines Bats Surgery Truck Smart People Assembling Brain Surgery Finished School

Author:Jasper Fforde

“I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished.”

Writing Book Suffering Disease Finished Ashamed Writing A Book

Author:Baron de Montesquieu

“I seem to write an opera about every 20 years; if you live long enough you can write four operas. I finished my third in 1970.”

Ifs Writing Years Long Enough Seems Four Thirds Finished Opera

Author:Virgil Thomson