Best written & firsts Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“Well, first you have to love writing. A lot of authors love having written. But I enjoy the actual writing. Beside that, I think the main reason I can be so prolific is the huge amount of planning I do before I start to write. I do a very complete, chapter-by-chapter outline of every book I write. When I sit down to write, I already know everything that's going to happen in the book. This means I've done all the important thinking, and I can relax and enjoy the writing. I could never write so many books if I didn't outline them first.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Writing Firsts Wells Mean I Can Important Book Reason Done Happens Enjoy Written Huge Amount Planning Relax Chapters Outlines

Author:R. L. Stine

“If you can stand to wait 24 hours before you decide the fate of what you have written - either good or bad - you're more likely to see that invisible thing that is invisible for the first few days in any new writing. We just can't know what all is in a sentence until there are several sentences to follow it. Pages of writing need more pages in order to be known, chapters need more chapters.”

Ifs Knows Needs Writing Firsts Order Waiting Hours Known Fate Written Pages Sentences Invisible Chapters Invisible Things

Author:Lynda Barry

“It is the Jews who originated biblical exegesis (a critical analysis of the Bible), just as they were the first to criticize the forms and doctrines of Christianity...Truly has Darmesteter written: 'The Jew was the apostle of unbelief, and every revolt of mind originated with him.'”

Mind Firsts Form Christianity Written Jew Critical Doctrine Analysis Criticize Biblical Apostles Revolt Unbelief Exegesis Critical Analysis

Author:Bernard Lazare

“I've written short stories in first person, but you have so much more control writing in third person. Third person, you know what everybody's thinking. First person is very limiting, and I could never sustain a first person novel before.”

Thinking Knows Writing Firsts Persons Stories Novel Written Thirds Short Story First Person Third Person Thinking First

Author:Tamora Pierce

“I've written something and I would like to have my first film directed by the time I'm 30.”

Firsts Film Written

Author:Ryan Phillippe

“The Wire,' I was such a fan of that show the first season - I think that's the best-written show on TV.”

Thinking Firsts Shows Written Fans Tvs Seasons Wire

Author:Amy Ryan

“I took the first James Kelman novel, 'The Bus Conductor Hines', home to my dad. I thought, 'My dad will like this; it's written in Scots.' But my dad said: 'I can't read that.' He was reading James Bond and John le Carre. That was part of what attracted me to crime - the idea of getting a wide audience.”

Firsts Said I Can Ideas Home Reading Novel Audience Written Crime Dad My Dad Wide Bus Conductor Scots

Author:Ian Rankin

“It can take years. With the first draft, I just write everything. With the second draft, it becomes so depressing for me, because I realize that I was fooled into thinking I'd written the story. I hadn't-I had just typed for a long time. So then I have to carve out a story from the 25 or so pages. It's in there somewhere-but I have to find it. I'll then write a third, fourth, and fifth draft, and so on.”

Thinking Writing Years Firsts Long Stories Realizing Written Pages Long Time Thirds Fourth Depressing Fifth Fooled

Author:David Sedaris

“My second album was written while I was on the road promoting the first record. I tried to take my personal experiences and elevate them to universal experiences, so that I wasn't writing songs about living on a tour bus or being on a TV set for the first time.”

Writing Firsts Song Records Written Tvs First Time Universal Albums Bus Promoting Living On Writing Songs Personal Experiences

Author:Kate Voegele

“The musicians recommend that I sing a sing the way it is written the first time and then start to look for other notes that aren't in the melody.”

Way Firsts Looks Written Musician First Time Notes Melody

Author:Margaret Whiting

“As the Nazi regime developed over the years, the whole structure of decision-making was changed. At first there were laws. Then there were decrees implementing laws. Then a law was made saying, ‘There shall be no laws.’ Then there were orders and directives that were written down, but still published in ministerial gazettes. Then there was government by announcement; orders appeared in newspapers. Then there were the quiet orders, the orders that were not published, that were within the bureaucracy, that were oral. And finally, there were no orders at all. Everybody knew what he had to do.”

Years Firsts Made Stills Whole Government Law Order Decision Written Changed Quiet Structure Newspapers Decision Making Regimes Nazi Bureaucracy Decree Announcements Implementing

Author:Raul Hilberg

“I had two projects that fell apart during preproduction. The first one was this movie that Judd Apatow and I had written about two guys following the Rolling Stones. It was going to be half concert film, half pseudo-documentary. It was Mick Jagger's idea.The other one was Simple Plan, based on a novel by Scott Smith. It's a great book - really stark, not a comedy - about a guy who finds $4 million in a plane crash and decides to keep it.”

“Simonides, a poet famous in his generation, is, I think, author of the oldest satire that is now extant, and, as some say, of the first that was ever written.”

Thinking Firsts Written Generations Poet Satire

Book:The spectator

Source: The spectator

“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 . . . one must ruthlessly suppress everything that is not concerned with the subject. If, in the first chapter, you say there is a gun hanging on the wall, you should make quite sure that it is going to be used further on in the story.”

Ifs Should Firsts Has Beens Ends Stories Used Lying My Own Written Subjects Wall Gun Concerned Crosses Chapters Hanging On

Author:Anton Chekhov

“I think of a child's mind as a blank book. During the first years of his life, much will be written on the pages. The quality of that writing will affect his life profoundly.”

Thinking Writing Years Mind Firsts Children Book Quality Written Pages Blank

Author:Walt Disney

“I do not remember-that is the point-the first impulse that pumped and shoved most of the earlier poems along, and they are still too near me, with their vehement beat-pounding black and green rhythms like those of a very young policeman exploding, for me to see the written evidence of it.”

Inspirational Firsts Stills Remember Young Black Written Beats Evidence Green Rhythm Impulse Policemen Exploding Vehement

Author:Dylan Thomas

“When the history of the 20th century is finally written, one of its key features will be the wanton slaughter of more than 170 million people, not in war, but by their own government. The governments that led in this slaughter are the former USSR (65 million) and the Peoples Republic of China (35-40 million). The point to remember is that these governments were the idols of America's leftists. Part of the reason for these and other tyrannical successes was because the people were first disarmed.”

People Firsts War Reason Government America Remember Millions Written Century Keys China Former Features Republic Idols 20th Century Slaughter Leftists Wanton Ussr

Author:Walter E. Williams

“For many people, Mrs. Brown has come from the middle of nowhere. But Mrs. Brown was first written for radio. I wrote it for a radio series in 1992. It was a five-minute piece for radio, and it's been absolutely astonishing.”

People Firsts Five Pieces Written Middle Minutes Series Radio Brown Five Minutes Astonishing Middle Of Nowhere Mr Brown

Author:Brendan O'Carroll

“I've always dabbled. I've always nearly written a book, I've always tried painting, I've always tried to make something out of ideas, really. It was never a plan. I never thought, "Right. First I'll get famous, and then I'll do a book.”

Firsts Book Ideas Plans Written Painting

Author:Ricky Gervais

“I think the written word is my first love. I was just a very imagination - centered child and a big part of that imaginary life came from reading.”

Thinking Firsts Children Bigs Reading Imagination Written Imaginary First Love Written Word Imaginary Life

Author:Zoe Kazan

“The first step to finding a God-written love story is handing the pen to the true Author of romance.”

Firsts Stories Romance Steps Written Findings Love Story Pens First Steps

Book:Authentic Beauty, Going Deeper: A Study Guide for the Set-Apart Young Woman

Source: Authentic Beauty, Going Deeper: A Study Guide for the Set-Apart Young Woman

“The censor is always quick to justify his function in terms that are protective of society. But the First Amendment, written in terms that are absolute, deprives the States of any power to pass on the value, the propriety, or the morality of a particular expression.”

Firsts States Values Term Written Particular Expression Morality Function Absolutes Justify Amendments Freedom Of Speech First Amendment Protective Propriety

Author:William O. Douglas

“It's true that I wouldn't have written the first book had my sister and mother been alive. It was my way of continuing our conversation. It's also this Jewish thing of naming and remembering people, and I think there is a sense of keeping that side of life going.”

People Thinking Way Firsts Book Remember Mother Sides Alive Written Conversation My Way My Sister Continuing Sisters And Mothers

Author:Nigella Lawson

“Anything said off the cuff has usually been written on it first.”

Firsts Said Written Cuffs

Author:Robin Skelton

“Chris [ Nolan] and I have a strange way of working from the non-movie process, where after all these conversations and reading the script and more conversations, Chris went out and shot the films and the first thing he did, he wouldn't show it to me until I had written the music - not out of meanness, or anything, it just sort of seemed an interesting idea to see if there was some synchronicity and letting me use my imagination to the fullest instead of being constricted by cuts and images.”

“The first book ever written in an alphabet was the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament. And the most important passage was the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is the most revolutionary sentence ever written. It states: "I am the Lord thy God there is no other." The second prohibits us from making images. Thus, there is a profound rejection of any goddess influence and a ban of representative art.”

“For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.”

Knows Way Writing Firsts I Can Facts Written

Book:Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

“Courts are places where the ending is written first and all that precedes is simply vaudeville.”

Firsts Law Written Court Vaudeville

Book:Notes of a Dirty Old Man

Source: Notes of a Dirty Old Man

“When the first emperor wanted to unify the country, one of the major policies was to create one system of written signs. By force, brutal force, he eliminated all the other scripts. One script became the official script. All the others were banned. And those who used other scripts were punished severely. And then the meanings of all the characters, over the centuries, had to be kept uniform as a part of the political apparatus. So from the very beginning the written word was a powerful political tool.”

Firsts Country Character Wanted Political Used Force Powerful Written Century Policy Majors Tools Scripts Officials Brutal Uniforms Emperor Banned Written Word

Author:Ha Jin

“The Da Vinci Code may well be the only novel ever written that begins with the word 'renowned'... I think what enabled the first word to tip me off that I was about to spend a number of hours in the company of one of the worst prose stylists in the history of literature was this. Putting curriculum vitae details into complex modifiers on proper names or definite descriptions is what you do in journalistic stories about deaths; you just don't do it in describing an event in a narrative... Why did I keep reading? Because London Heathrow is a long way from San Francisco International.”

“A lot of first novels are written long before they're actually put down on paper.”

Firsts Long Book Language Novel Written Paper

Book:Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2003

Source: Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2003

“The first thing I read was of my character on the phone talking to Sydney's fiance. Though short, it was so beautifully written, and it made me laugh. I thought if I wanted to play a character, this would be it.”

Ifs Firsts Made Play Character Would Be Wanted Talking Laughing Written Phones Sydney Fiance

Author:Victor Garber

“When I first read the script a few years ago I thought it was one of the best written scripts I had ever read.”

Years Firsts Written Years Ago Scripts

Author:Victor Garber

“War had always seemed to me to be a purely human behavior. Accounts of warlike behavior date back to the very first written records of human history; it seemed to be an almost universal characteristic of human groups.”

Firsts Humans War Records Written Groups Behavior Universal Accounts Characteristics Human Behavior Human History

Author:Jane Goodall

“A great deal has been written about personal power by Carlos Casteneda, and I find his first four books valuable. Of the experiences themselves, who knows? But the principles that are presented are quite valuable for one who seeks power.”

Knows Firsts Has Beens Book Deals Principles Four Written Valuable Mysticism Personal Power

Author:Frederick Lenz

“The spiritual man habitually makes eternity-judgments instead of time-judgments. By faith he rises above the tug of earth and the flow of time and learns to think and feel as one who has already left the world and gone to join the innumerable company of angels and the general assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in heaven. Such a man would rather be useful than famous and would rather serve than be served. And all this must be by the operation of the Holy Spirit within him. No man can become spiritual by himself. Only the free Spirit can make a man spiritual.”

“Preaching, in the first sense of the word, ceased as soon as ever the gospel was written.”

Firsts Written Preaching

Book:Table Talk: With a Biographical Pref. and Notes

Source: Table Talk: With a Biographical Pref. and Notes

“Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This pleases me. When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children. For aside from my evident inability to do anything "great," I have learned to regard fame as a will-o-the-wisp which, when caught, is not worth the possession; but to please a child is a sweet and lovely thing that warms one's heart and brings its own reward.”

“There are very few humorists who have written first-rate humor after they've become elderly.”

Firsts Age Written Aging Rate Elderly Humorists

Author:Richard Armour

“I don't remember the first poem that I wrote because I've been creating poems since I was around 2 or 3. I don't have any memory of that but my mom has written evidence of it. I've always liked playing with words so when I was younger it had a lot more to do with rhyme and sounds.”

Firsts Remember Sound Memories Written Mom Creating Evidence My Mom Rhyme

Author:Sarah Kay

“Elizabeth Hardwick told me once that all her first drafts sounded as if a chicken had written them. So do mine for the most part.”

Ifs Firsts Written Mines Chickens

Author:Flannery O'Connor

“here are the top three global resources getting scarcer in the twenty-first century: ozone layer, rain forest, people eager to read the fiction of others. That's right, folks. For the first time in I believe written history, there are far more fiction writers on earth than fiction readers.”

Source: A Year in Van Nuys

“I am convinced that the first lyric poem was written at night, and that the moon was witness to the event and that the event was witness to the moon. For me, the moon has always been the very embodiment of lyric poetry.”

Firsts Night Written Events Moon Convinced Witness Embodiment Lyric Poetry

Book:Madness, Rack, and Honey: Collected Lectures

Source: Madness, Rack, and Honey: Collected Lectures

“When I first encountered the poems of Jon Woodward, I was stunned into the state that is my life's joy-I was in the presence of the inimitable. Uncanny Valley extends that experience-almost into another dimension. These apocalyptic, pixilated poems forge a mythology of our ravaged culture, one that might have been written in the future. If you want poetry to give you a persimmon on a plate, look elsewhere; if you want to know what happens when seven trees fall on the highway and the story is told by a stutterer, this is the book, and it could only have been written by Woodward.”

“I've just always written, and always considered myself a writer. I wrote my first story when I was five. There was nothing else I wanted to do or be.”

Firsts Stories Wanted Five Written

Author:Jami Attenberg

“I want books written out of a brain and heart and soul crowded and vital with Life, spelled with a big L. I want poetry bursting with passion. I don't care a hang for the 'verbal felicities.' They'll do for the fringe, but I want the garment to warm me first.”

Want Firsts Heart Book Soul Bigs Care Passion Brain Written Don't Care Warm I Don't Care Fringe Crowded Garments Heart And Soul Felicity Bursting Heart And Brain

Author:Gertrude Atherton

“My first biography written in '73 was not 'Journey To The Moon.' It was 'Return To Earth.' Because for me, that was the more difficult task - disappointment.”

Firsts Earth Difficult Written Journey Return Moon Tasks Disappointment Biographies Difficult Tasks

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“It made me sick - my name's Keith Richards. It hardly makes it against Howlin' Wolf or Muddy Waters, does it? On my first guitar I had Boy Blue written - just pathetic. But that was as good as I got at the time.”

Firsts Doe Made Names Water Boys Written Sick Blue Guitar Pathetic Muddy Keith Howlin Wolf

Author:Keith Richards

“Maybe that's when bad scripts are written, when you choose the theme first. I consider that I've something to say when I've thought of a person, a moment, a single beat of the heart, that I think is true and interesting, and therefore should be seen.”

Thinking Should Firsts Heart Persons Moments Interesting Written Beats Scripts Theme You Choose

Author:Russell T Davies

“I've written virtually as long as I've acted, it wasn't a sudden transition. I acted in my first play when I was 16 and I wrote my first play when I was 17.”

Firsts Long Play Written Transition

Author:Lennie James

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