Jhumpa Lahiri, on stories:

I am drawn to any story that makes me want to read from one sentence to the next.

I have no other criterion.

- Jhumpa Lahiri.

E. L. Doctorow, on writing:

Writing is an exploration.

You start from nothing and learn as you go.

- E. L. Doctorow.

Francine Prose, on writing and reading:

Like most – maybe all – writers,
I learned to write by writing and, by example, by reading books.

– Francine Prose.

Harlan Ellison, on writing:

People on the outside think there's something magical about writing,

that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn't like that.

You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that's all there is to it.

- Harlan Ellison.

Edna Ferber, on writing:

Life can't ever really defeat a writer who is in love with writing,

for life itself is a writer's lover until death -

fascinating, cruel, lavish, warm, cold, treacherous, constant.

- Edna Ferber, A Kind of Magic (1963).

Edgar Allan Poe, on writing:

Through joy and through sorrow, I wrote.

Through hunger and through thirst, I wrote.

Through good report and through ill report, I wrote.

Through sunshine and through moonshine, I wrote ...

- Edgar Allan Poe.

Liane Moriarty, on writing:

My real thinking and planning gets done when I'm doing something else,

like driving or walking or taking a shower.

- Liane Moriarty.

Stephen King, on books:

Books are a uniquely portable magic.

- Stephen King.

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost:

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost.
Published in 1916.
 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

 

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

 

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

 

Robert Frost
(1874 – 1963)

Harper Lee, on writing:

Writing is a process of self-discipline you must learn before you can call yourself a writer.

There are people who write, but I think they’re quite different from people who must write.

– Harper Lee.

James A. Michener, on writing:

I love writing.

I love the swirl of words as they tangle with human emotions.

- James A. Michener.

Erma Bombeck, on dedication:

When I stand before God at the end of my life,

I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say,

'I used everything You gave me'.

- Erma Bombeck.

Voltaire, on writing:

Writing is the painting of the voice.

- Voltaire.

Herta Muller, on writing:

I have always written only for myself - to clarify things,

to clarify things with myself,

to understand in an inner way what is actually happening.

- Herta Muller.

Wallace Stevens, on writing and imagination:

In the world of words, the imagination is one of the forces of nature.

- Wallace Stevens.

Erica Jong, on writing:

All writing problems are psychological problems.

Blocks usually stem from the fear of being judged.

If you imagine the world listening, you'll never write a line.

That's why privacy is so important.

You should write first drafts as if they will never be shown to anyone.

- Erica Jong.

Desiderius Erasmus, on books:

When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.

- Desiderius Erasmus.

Judy Blume, on writing:

The best books come from someplace inside.

You don't write because you want to, but because you have to.

- Judy Blume.

Napoleon Hill, on imagination and writing:

First comes thought;

then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans;

then transformation of those plans into reality.

The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.

- Napoleon Hill.

Vickie Karp, on reading and writing:

When we read, we start at the beginning and continue until we reach the end.

When we write, we start in the middle and fight our way out.

- Vickie Karp.