George V. Higgins, on writing:

The characters are telling you the story.

I'm not telling you the story, they're going to do it.

If I do it right, you will get the whole story.

- George V. Higgins.

Selma Lagerlöf, on imagination:

No one is able to enjoy such feast than the one who throws a party in his own mind.

- Selma Lagerlöf.

Raymond Chandler, on writing:

The challenge is to write about real things magically.

- Raymond Chandler.

J.K. Rowling, on writing:

Writing for me is a kind of compulsion,

so I don't think anyone could have made me do it,

or prevented me from doing it.

- J.K. Rowling.

W. Somerset Maugham, on reading:

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.

- W. Somerset Maugham.

Introvert insight:

Solitude has its own very strange beauty to it.

– Liv Tyler.

I am a minimalist.
I like saying the most with the least.

– Bob Newhart.

I owe everything that I have done to the fact that I am very much at ease being alone.

– Marilynne Robinson.

A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live.

– Bertrand Russell.

Mel Brooks, on writing:

Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin.
The talent of a writer is his ability to give them their separate names, identities, personalities
and have them relate to other characters living with him.

– Mel Brooks.

Mr. Rogers' wisdom:

The really important "great" things are never center stage of life's dramas;

they're always "in the wings".

That's why it's so essential for us to be mindful of the humble and the deep

rather than the flashy and the superficial.

- Fred Rogers.

Mabel Seeley, on writing:

There's less skill and more plain hard work to writing than anyone except a writer thinks.

- Mabel Seeley.

Joseph Conrad, on writing:

My task, which I am trying to achieve is,

by the power of the written word,

to make you hear, to make you feel -

it is, before all, to make you see.

- Joseph Conrad.

Danielle LaPorte, on creativity:

I focus for periods of time on creative work and I'm very insular during those times - not a lot of socializing.

I play when I want.

That means I can take off on a retreat, catch a matinee, make friends.

My core desired feelings are my time management system.

- Danielle LaPorte.

National Pet Day - April 11:

National Pet Day - April 11

Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them,

filling an emptiness we don't even know we have.

- Thom Jones.

My animals are a really important part of my life.

– Lisa Scottoline.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, on imagination:

The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Patricia A. McKillip, on imagination:

Imagination is the golden-eyed monster that never sleeps.

It must be fed; it cannot be ignored.

- Patricia A. McKillip.

B.B. King, on learning:

The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.

- B.B. King.

Carson McCullers, on writing:

The writer is by nature a dreamer - a conscious dreamer.

- Carson McCullers.

Jack Kerouac, on writing:

It ain't whatcha write, it's the way atcha write it.

- Jack Kerouac.

Anne Lamott, on writing and reading:

Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation.

It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea.

You can't stop the raging storm,

but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.

- Anne Lamott.

Stephen King, on writing:

When you sit down to write, write.

Don't do anything else except go to the bathroom,

and only do that if it absolutely cannot be put off.

- Stephen King.

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.