National Dictionary Day – October 16:

National Dictionary Day – October 16

Olin Miller, on writing:

Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators.

- Olin Miller.

Dorothy Parker, on creativity:

Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.

- Dorothy Parker.

Gustave Flaubert, on writing:

Writing is a dog's life, but the only life worth living.

- Gustave Flaubert.

C. S. Lewis, on writing:

Whenever you are fed up with life, start writing:

ink is the great cure for all human ills,

as I have found out long ago.

- C. S. Lewis.

Rainer Maria Rilke, on writing:

Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of you heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.

- Rainer Maria Rilke.

E.B. White, on writing:

I admire anyone who has the guts to write anything at all.

- E.B. White.

Mordecai Richler, on writing:

Fundamentally, all writing is about the same thing; it's about dying, about the brief flicker of time we have here, and the frustration that it creates.

- Mordecai Richler.

Mary Lee Settle, on writing:

Anyone who has a choice and doesn't choose to write is a fool.

The work is hard, the perks are few, the pay is terrible, and the product, when it's finally finished, is pure joy.

- Mary Lee Settle.

Franz Kafka, on writing:

A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.

- Franz Kafka.

Charles Bukowski, on writers:

Lawyers, doctors, plumbers, they all made the money.

Writers?

Writers starved.

Writers suicided.

Writers went mad.

- Charles Bukowski.

Stephen King, on writing:

Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.

- Stephen King.

Simone de Beauvoir, on writing:

A day in which I don't write leaves a taste of ashes.

- Simone de Beauvoir.

John D. MacDonald, on writing:

My purpose is to entertain myself first and other people secondly.

- John D. MacDonald.

Jane Yolen, on writing:

Exercise the writing muscles every day, even if it is only a letter, note, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry.

Writers are like dancers, like athletes.

Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.

- Jane Yolen.

Ray Bradbury, on writing:

You fail only if you stop writing.

- Ray Bradbury.

A. B. Yehoshua, on writing:

The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.

- A. B. Yehoshua.

Frank Ocean, on focus and dedication:

Work hard in silence,

let success be your noise.

- Frank Ocean.

Isaac Asimov, on writing:

I write for the same reason I breathe - because if I didn't, I would die.

- Isaac Asimov.

Stephen King, on writing:

To write is human, to edit is divine.

- Stephen King.