Best Written Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 29

“Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife, He would have written sonnets all his life?.”

“I wonder if a single thought that has helped forward the human spirit has ever been conceived or written down in an enormous room: except, perhaps, in the reading room of the British Museum.”

Ifs Humans Spirit Reading Rooms Wonder Written British Enormous Museums Human Spirit British Museum Reading Room

Book:Civilisation

Source: Civilisation

“If people only knew what lies at the heart of my novels! What a tumult of desires these carefully written pages conceal! I sometimes have a loathing for the furious cravings that give me no peace except when I am working.”

People Ifs Giving Heart Sometimes Lying Desire Novel Written Pages Give Me Craving Furious Loathing Tumult

Book:Diary, 1928-1957

Source: Diary, 1928-1957

“People apparently only read mystery stories of any length. With mysteries, the longer the better, and people will read any damn thing. But the indulgent, 800-page books that were written a hundred years ago are just not going to be written anymore, and people need to get used to that.”

People Needs Years Book Stories Used Written Mystery Pages Hundred Years Ago Damn Length Damn Things

Author:Cormac McCarthy

“Some things get written more quickly than others, but I can't really measure degrees of difficulty.”

I Can Written Degrees Difficulty

Author:Paul Auster

“Precept is instruction written in the sand; the tide flows over it and the record is gone; example is graven on the rock, and the lesson is not soon lost.”

Lost Gone Records Written Rocks Example Lessons Flow Sand Over It Instruction Tides

Author:William Ellery Channing

“Too much is written by the men who can't write about the men who do write.”

Men Writing Too Much Written He Man

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Jack London (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Jack London (Illustrated)

“Stupid women, and all are stupid, think the first winning of the man the final victory. Then they settle down and grow fat, and stale, and dead, and heartbroken. Alas, they are so stupid. But you, little infant-woman with your first victory, you must make your love-life an unending chain of victories. Each day you must win your man again. And when you have won the last victory, when you can find no more to win, then ends love. Finis is written, and your man wanders in strange gardens.”

Source: The Valley of the Moon: Classic American Literature

“Every criticism or slight against you, warranted or not, received or endured humbly, is written in heaven for your reward.”

Heaven Written Criticism Rewards

Author:John Piper

“At forty my faculties may have closed up like flowers at evening, leaving me unable to write my memoirs with a fitting and discreet inaccuracy, or, having written them, unable to carry them to the publisher.”

Writing May Written Flower Leaving Memoir Evening Forty Faculty Publishers Leaving Me Fitting Discreet

Book:James Thurber: Writings & Drawings (including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)

Source: James Thurber: Writings & Drawings (including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)

“So much of a novelist's writing, as I have said, takes place in the unconscious: in those depths the last word is written before the first word appears on the paper. We remember details of our story, we do not invent them.”

Writing Firsts Said Stories Lasts Remember Written Paper Depth Details Novelists Unconscious Last Words

Book:The End of the Affair

Source: The End of the Affair

“It is written that the last enemy to be vanquished is death. We should begin early in life to vanquish this enemy by obliterating every trace of the fear of death from our minds. Then can we turn to life and fill the whole horizon of our souls with it, turn with added zest to all the serious tasks which it imposes and to the pure delights which here and there it affords.”

Should Mind Soul Whole Lasts Turns Enemy Written Serious Pure Tasks Delight Horizon Fear Of Death Here And There Zest Vanquish

Author:Felix Adler

“I have carefully and regularly perused the Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion that the volume contains more sublimity, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains of eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever language they may have been written.”

May Has Beens Important Book Language Opinion Written Morality Holy Scripture Volume Strain Eloquence Holy Scriptures Sublimity

Book:Letters: Chronologically Arranged from Lord Teignmouth's Collection

Source: Letters: Chronologically Arranged from Lord Teignmouth's Collection

“Critics have found in the narrative a veneer of erudition that cloaks nothing more than a James Bond-style romp, albeit a highly addictive one. His publisher has described it as 'a thriller for people who don't like thrillers'. One newspaper put it thus: 'It is terribly written, its characters are cardboard cutouts, the dialogue is excruciating in places and, a bit like a computer manual, everything is overstated and repeated - but it is impossible to put the bloody thing down.”

People Character Found Bits Impossible Written Style Computer Critics Newspapers Dialogue Narrative Bloody Publishers Thrillers Manuals Cloaks Veneer Erudition

Author:Dan Brown

“We have written the evidence of our existence onto the surface of our planet. Our civilisation has become a beacon, that identifies our planet as home to life.”

Home Existence Written Planets Evidence Surface Our Planet Civilisation Beacons

Author:Brian Cox

“We know that England is crying for a leader, and that leader has emerged in the person of the greatest Englishman I have ever known, Sir Oswald Mosley... When the history of Europe comes to be written I can assure you that his name will not be second to either Mussolini or Hitler.”

Knows Persons I Can Names Known Leader Written Cry Europe England Englishmen

Author:William Joyce

“I was getting rewarded for writing well, from about the age of five or six. A teacher would say, "Look what Andrew has written," and I thought, "Maybe I could be a writer."”

Writing Wells Looks Age Five Teacher Written Six Andrew Writing Well

Author:Andrew Davies

“I'm not really a director or producer for hire. There's lots of big gigs out there, but I'm not looking to do that. Usually, when I'm directing or producing, I've written it myself. I'm not really trying to get on some big horse that's running through town. I just make my own stuff.”

Trying Bigs Running Stuff My Own Written Directors Horse Towns Producers Gigs

Author:Mike White

“The fact that I have a lot of songs written doesn't keep me from wanting to write new ones, or new ones from coming.”

Writing Facts Song Written

Author:Christopher Owens

“I'm horrible at concepts. My life is random and my inspiration is random. But it's all written in a very specific time frame that says a lot about my life at the time.”

Inspiration Life Is Written Concepts Horrible

Author:Oh Land

“I decided to do what I do when I was 2 years old. At 2 years old, you know, I heard the sound of a drum playing in the village, and I found my own drum and just picked it up and started playing, the worst song ever written by Wyclef Jean.But it actually started a vibe.”

Knows Years Song Found Sound My Own Written Heard Worst Decided Village Old You

Author:Wyclef Jean

“Sometimes you can't help but pay attention to what is written about you. You are trying not to because it's generally not constructive, it can be very funny, in which case it's fine to pay attention to it if you're going to laugh about it. But if it's going to get you angry then it's a pretty pointless waste of energy, so I try and be selective about what I take an interest in about myself.”

Ifs Trying Sometimes Helping Energy Interest Pay Attention Cases Laughing Written Fine Waste Angry Pay Attention Constructive Pointless Selective

Author:Daniel Radcliffe

“When I was 16, I took the written driving test, just like everybody else did, and I passed it. Then the first time I was behind the wheel of a car, when I was a kid, it kind of freaked me out. I've always been a very anxious student of anything, and so not being able to process things quickly enough, feeling overwhelmed, I just got freaked out and so I just never tried again.”

Firsts Kind Enough Feelings Kids Able Process Behinds Written Car Students First Time Tests Driving Wheels Anxious Overwhelmed Feeling Overwhelmed

Author:Paul F. Tompkins

“I always feel that the best roles are written for white guys.”

Feels Guy White Roles Written White Guys

Author:Marlon Wayans

“It's usually very, very hard for me to pick up a script that was written and try and see myself as a part of that, especially when you're used to performing all your own material. It's OK with drama, I like being handed great material but I think with comedy it's far more personal and probably a lot harder for me to find a fit.”

Thinking Trying Hard Used Comedy Written Materials Fit Drama Picks Harder Scripts Performing

Author:Eric Bana

“There's no point in it unless it's a story that you really want to tell. It's a nebulous job. Unless you're doing it well, you're not doing anything. And there are a few of those. It's perfectly possible to be a passenger on a film set because if somebody else has written it, you can make nothing of that role and that's exactly what bad directors do.”

Ifs Want Wells Stories Jobs Film Roles Written Directors No Point Passengers Film Set

Author:Colin Firth

“I've never not been pleased with one of my albums. I figure because it's spoken word, there will be people who relate to it, and people who don't, so I don't worry about any of that. I've been doing it for over twenty years. I've always written because it was something I had to do, never for the glory.”

People Years Worry Written Figures Glory Twenties Albums Relate Spoken Word

Author:John Trudell

“I'm much more concerned about what artists think. But as you get older you tend to get much more isolated; you're not out in the bar, having long drunken arguments on the benefits of your work vs. someone else's. It's hard to know how people are looking at it, and you don't get much feedback. The written critical stuff seems to be the feedback, but that's hard to interpret.”

People Thinking Knows Long Hard Seems Artist Stuff Know How Written Benefits Concerned Argument Critical Bars Isolated Feedback

Author:Brice Marden

“I can do movies maybe that have already been written, but I can't do anything for months at a time.”

I Can Can Do Written Months

Author:Jason Lee

“All films created by Walt Disney at the time of his major outpouring of work were carefully crafted to fit scenes, characters, moods and situations. If these elements changed in any way, songs - no matter how good they were - were discarded. Others were written for the new scenes. Many times, character songs were dropped because characters were dropped...sequences were dropped etc.”

Ifs Way Matter Character Film Song Situation Written Changed Fit Scene Elements Majors Mood Etc Sequence Discarded Walt

Author:Richard Sherman

“Walt had a seat-of-the-pants approach on what he wanted musically. We kind of 'read' the boss and had a very high batting average, but there were occasions when he felt we had just written the wrong piece for the situation he wanted. We invariably listened to what he wanted - he was very descriptive in what he wanted and we could read him. We'd go back to the drawing board and work out what he wanted. He was a great inspiration, but a tough taskmaster.”

Kind Inspiration Wanted Felt Situation Pieces Written Approach Tough Average Work Out Drawing Occasions Boards Seats Boss Pants Walt Batting

Author:Richard Sherman

“I'm from Toronto. It's a lot more laid back. When you are thrust into different environments, there is an odd adaptation period. And then there are times when unfair, unkind, untrue things are written about you. That bothers me less now.”

Different Environment Written Periods Bother Odd Unfair Adaptation Thrust Back When Untrue Unkind Toronto Laid Back Different Environments

Author:Mike Myers

“If you just read Joseph Campbell, who has written amazing books on mythology and religion, they all do come together at some point. There are some of the greatest stories that there have ever been in the Bible. All you have to do is read the book of Maccabi, it's like a film script.”

Ifs Book Stories Together Film Written Scripts Mythology Amazing Book

Author:Mel Gibson

“If we had written Tristan in the true vernacular the audience would have been very small. It wouldn't have even been Shakespearean. It would have been so Celtic you wouldn't understand what was going on.”

Ifs Has Beens Audience Written Celtic Vernacular

Author:Ridley Scott

“I think there's great value to the Associated Press and to Reuters, but if you wanted to generate original content, maybe written by local writers, it just takes a little bit of openness to open your pages up to a wider freelance writer pool, and then you might find new voices and a wider array of voices, and definitely more original content that can't be found anywhere else.”

Ifs Thinking Littles Might Wanted Values Found Bits Voice Written Little Bit Pages Originals Presses Locals Openness Pool Great Value

Author:Dave Eggers

“Most scripts are written to be green lit. They're not written to be acted. And a lot of writers with the greatest intention in the world don't write for actors. They don't understand the architecture of what an actor needs to get from point A to point B.”

World Needs Writing Actors Written Green Intention Scripts Architecture Lit

Author:Laura Linney

“I think the best-written films or television series have a measure of the opposite of what they are.”

Thinking Film Written Television Opposites Series

Author:Bryan Cranston

“I'd hate to be a writer forever and never perform, and I'd hate to perform and not write. I get sad if time has passed and I haven't written or made anything. I'm an artist.”

Ifs Writing Made Artist Hate Forever Written Havens

Author:Kristen Schaal

“Obviously it's easier when I' m doing the adapting myself. But my feeling is, your potential upside far outweighs the downside. Ultimately, they [moviemakers] can't change your book. Your book remains on the shelf the way you wrote it. If they make a great movie of your book, then you have the equivalent of millions and millions of dollars of advertising for your book. If the movie's not that good, that doesn't mean the book's not good. It doesn't change what you've already written. It has the potential to reach more people.”

People Ifs Way Mean Book Feelings Millions Written Easier Remains Dollars Advertising Shelves Can't Change Adapting

Author:Jonathan Tropper

“I use improvisation as a writing tool to help produce material that goes into a script, but a well-crafted script shouldn't sound scripted, and oftentimes people confuse something that looks like improvisation for what is actually a very well-written script that is well-acted.”

People Writing Wells Looks Helping Use Sound Written Produce Materials Tools Scripts Improvisation Well Written

Author:Steve Coogan

“I seemed to have instinctually a strong idea of how the strip had to be written from the beginning. That changed too, but it was more in the direction of where it was headed. I didn't have a clue as to the drawing style, because the drawing style that I was groomed on from the beginning was newspaper comic strips, which were much more conventional.”

Ideas Strong Written Style Changed Drawing Newspapers Comic Conventional Clue Comic Strips

Author:Jules Feiffer

“A lot of the album is made of love songs I've written over the past three or four years that have lasted the test of time. It's probably the thing that connects the songs together other than the sound of my vocals.”

Years Made Together Past Song Three Sound Four Written Tests Albums Four Years Vocal Over The Past Test Of Time

Author:Vance Joy

“I always wrote. I've written stories since I was 9. We didn't have a computer at home, but my aunt Magda had one. Whenever I'd go to her place, I was in the basement working on her computer, writing stories.”

Writing Stories Home Written Computer Aunt Basements Writing Stories

Author:Xavier Dolan

“If you're doing a classic play, where if you do a Chekhov, you do the words as written. You can't do that with a novel; you have to do your version of the words as written.”

Ifs Play Novel Written Versions Classic Chekhov

Author:Sam Mendes

“There's something paralyzing about being a writer that you have to escape. I don't want to think of myself as a guy who's written a bunch of books. The 26 letters distance us from our own hesitations and they make us sound as if we know what we're doing. We know grammar, we know prose, but actually we're all just struggling in the dark, really.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Want Book Guy Sound Dark Struggle Written Letters Distance Bunch Prose Grammar Hesitation

Author:Nicholson Baker

“If you have written something that the film people want, like a book, it does give you a way in.”

People Ifs Way Want Giving Doe Book Film Written

Author:Emma Donoghue

“As an audience member, I like the sound of something that's been written - I like it to sound written. And then, of course, you can't do it without the musicians who can play it.”

Play Courses Sound Audience Written Members Musician

Author:Aaron Sorkin

“Lots of scripts are written and not made, even scripts that people want to make.”

People Want Made Written Scripts

Author:James Salter

“There's a long-standing (50 year old) flame war within the field over whether it's "sci-fi" or "SF".SF has traditionally been looked down on by the literary establishment because, to be honest, much early SF was execrably badly written - but these days the significance of the pigeon hole is fading; we have serious mainstream authors writing stuff that is I-can't-believe-it's-not-SF, and SF authors breaking into the mainstream. If you view them as tags that point to shelves in bricks-and-mortar bookshops, how long are these genre categories going to survive in the age of the internet?”

“An important factor to note is that it's rare for anyone to sell a first novel written before they turned 30-35; long-format fiction tends to require a bunch of experience of human life that takes time to acquire. So your average mid-career novelist is in their forties to fifties!”

Firsts Humans Long Important Fiction Careers Novel Written Sells Notes Average Bunch Factors Human Life Novelists Acquire Forty Take Time Format

Author:Charles Stross

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