Just like in any career, those who write like to talk about their craft. What is different about writers when they do this is that those who are good have learned to communicate effectively and because of this quotes about writing are some of the most interesting available. Not only thi,s but they encapsulate most of the lessons that you need to learn to become an effective writer. These quotes can generally be separated into three categories. Why we write. How to write, and the business of writing.
Why we write
If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~Toni Morrison
The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium. ~Norbet Platt
Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. ~Sharon O'Brien
When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. But if you have not a pen, I suppose you must scratch any way you can. ~Samuel Lover, Handy Andy
I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions. ~James Michener
Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind. ~Catherine Drinker Bowen, Atlantic, December 1957 Ink on paper is as beautiful to me as flowers on the mountains; God composes, why shouldn't we? ~Audra Foveo-Alba
If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad. ~Lord Byron
Writing is a struggle against silence. ~Carlos Fuentes
You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke. ~Arthur Polotnik
I write for the same reason I breathe - because if I didn't, I would die. Isaac Asimov
How to write
There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith
I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard
Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very;" your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain
I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter. ~James Michener
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
The wastebasket is a writer's best friend. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth
Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov
Easy reading is damn hard writing. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. ~Mark Twain
Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. ~Gene Fowler
The buisness of writing
I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork. ~Peter De Vries
A critic can only review the book he has read, not the one which the writer wrote. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
I'd rather be caught holding up a bank than stealing so much as a two-word phrase from another writer. ~Jack Smith
What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he's staring out of the window. ~Burton Rascoe
The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes. ~Agatha Christie
Publication - is the auction of the Mind of Man. ~Emily Dickinson
If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that's read by persons who move their lips when they're reading to themselves. ~Don Marquis
An editor is someone who separates the wheat from the chaff and then prints the chaff. ~Adlai Stevenson
Most editors are failed writers - but so are most writers. ~T.S. Eliot Pen names are masks that allow us to unmask ourselves. ~C. Astrid Weber
Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good. ~Author Unknown, commonly misattributed to Samuel Johnson