Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.
-Henry David Thoreau
Quotations
Writer
To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make.
-Truman Capote
"Truman Capote: Conversations"
The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.
-Anaïs Nin
A great writer reveals the truth even when he or she does not wish to.
-Tom Bissell
A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.
-Nelson Mandela
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.
-Voltaire
Most people write so they can remember things; I write to forget.
-Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The writer must be playful and serious at the same time.
-W. Somerset Maugham
After the writer's death, reading his journal is like receiving a long letter.
-Jean Cocteau
If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water.
-Ernest Hemingway
