The writer, in order best to use the talents he has been given, has to write at his own intellectual level. For him to do anything else is to bury his talents. This doesn’t mean that, within his limitations, he shouldn’t try to reach as many people as possible, but it does mean that he must not lower his standards to do so. ~ Flannery O’ Connor

I want to write, but more than that I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in my heart. ~ Anne Frank

The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say. ~Mark Twain

I have never written a book that didn’t teach me far more than it taught my reader. ~ Isaac Asimov

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. ~Vladimir Nabakov

Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space. ~Orson Scott Card

Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. ~Hannah Arendt

If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. ~ Robert Southey

Writing is like praying, because you stop all other activities, descend into silence, and listen patiently to the depths of your soul, waiting for the true words to come. When they do, you thank God because you know the words are a gift, and you write them down as honestly and as cleanly as you can. ~ Sister Helen Prejean, Death of Innocents

If I can capture truth in its simplest form, beauty will follow like a sledgehammer. ~ Mark Twain

Publication is the auction of the mind of man. ~ Emily Dickinson

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. ~ G.K. Chesterton

The more you read, the more you will write. The better the stuff you read, the better the stuff you will write. ~ Annie Dillard

There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes. ~ William Thackeray

When a book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others, but I think that for the writer to worry is to take over God’s business. ~ Flannery O’ Connor