Writer Quotes

It would be a lot better, of course, if campaigns everywhere could be waged with arguments instead of blows. In nine cases out of ten the speaker or writer who, seeking to influence public opinion, descends from calm argument to unfair blows hurts himself more than his opponent.

Several centuries ago the greatest writer in history described the two most menacing clouds that hang over human government and human society as "malice domestic and fierce foreign war."

The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.

Even when I was coming up in the singer-songwriter ranks during the early '70s, I thought that people who were stylists and stuff shoulda still been up on the pedestal. I mean, it's fine to recognize people who write songs, but it kinda got out of hand, you know?

And you find as a writer there are certain spots on the planet where you write better than others, and I believe in that. And New Orleans is one of them.

You know, as a writer, I'm more of a listener than a writer, cuz if I hear something I will write it down.

Social media is a giant distraction to the ultimate aim, which is honing your craft as a songwriter. There are people who are exceptional at it, however, and if you can do both things, then that's fantastic, but if you are a writer, the time is better spent on a clever lyric than a clever tweet.

Not 'I don't give a f-' to just be reckless and do whatever, but 'I don't give a f- what they say.' ... I know who I am and what I'm doing in my life and what I've accomplished and continue to accomplish as a performer, as a writer, as an artist, as a person, as a human being. I'm happy with the man I'm becoming.

The key to being a wonderful writer is not to write. You just get out of the way, leave room for God to walk in the room, and when I write something that I know is right, I get on my knees and say, 'Thank You.

The writer may very well serve a movement of history as its mouthpiece, but he cannot of course create it.

The writer must earn money in order to be able to live and to write, but he must by no means live and write for the purpose of making money.

The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader.

I know people who read without hearing the sentence sounds and they were the fastest readers. Eye readers we call them. They get the meaning by glances. But they are bad readers because they miss the best part of what a good writer puts into his work.

I alone of English writers have consciously set myself to make music out of what I may call the sound of sense.

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.