“There's no winning without beginning.”

“Just because you get something doesn't mean you deserve it. And just because you deserve something doesn't mean you will get it.”

“The things I want to express are so beautiful and pure.”

“We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason why they write so little.”

“P. G. Wodehouse once dedicated a novel to his young children, without
whose constant love and affection this book would have been finished in
half the time.”

“Everything stinks till it's finished.”

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time”

“The work never matches the dream of perfection the artist has to start with.”

“I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been by far; for a might-have-been has never been, but a has-been was once an are.”

“Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.”

“Ecstatic is the Soul when Heart and Mind in unison desires to Write, to write for Self, for Others and above all for God, from whom this gift of writing indeed is.”

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”

“Writing loves US. Did you know that? I didn't! Writing wants to be written. First, though we must be willing to LISTEN. We do not control the writing--the writing controls us. It moves us, frees us, becomes us. We have to be ready to hand the reigns over to it, though. Our job is to PAY ATTENTION and write what we HEAR.

ARE YOU LISTENING?”

“The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say but what we are unable to say.”

“Gravity cannot be held responsible for people falling in love.”

“Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

“Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival.”

“One of the easiest things in the world is not to write... If it were easy, everyone would do it.”

“You can only write, 'Somebody wants something, something else is in their way of getting it.'”

“Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.”

“Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog it's too dark to read.”

“Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely necessary.”

“Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing there is a field. I'll meet you there.”

“I am always interested in why young people become writers, and from talking with many I have concluded that most do not want to be writers working eight and ten hours a day and accomplishing little; they want to have been writers, garnering the rewards of having completed a best-seller. They aspire to the rewards of writing but not to the travail.”

“If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.”

“From the moment I picked up your book till I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter, someday I intend reading it. I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it!”

“Success is not measured by what a man accomplishes, but by the opposition he has encountered and the courage with which he has maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.”

“There is no try, there is only do or do not.”

“I am free of prejudice. I hate everyone equally.”

“Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.”

“It is not enough merely to love literature, if one wishes to spend one's life as a writer. It is a dangerous undertaking on the most primitive level. For, it seems to me, the act of writing with serious intent involves enormous personal risk. It entails the ongoing courage for self-discovery. It means one will walk forever on the tightrope, with each new step presenting the possibility of learning a truth about oneself that is too
terrible to bear.”

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

“In majestic dreams I tell whoever I'm with that I can levitate with my arms. If only the conscious was as inventive as the subconscious, people would create art often.”

“...the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself... alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the sweat and the agony.”

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

“Most writers in the course of their careers become thick-skinned and learn to accept vituperation, which in any other profession would be unimaginably offensive, as a healthy counterpoise to unintelligent praise.”

“You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however.”

“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

“Always behave as though tomorrow is THE day.”

“When I was 17, I thought my father to be the most stupid man alive. When I turned 21, I couldn't believe how much he had learned in 4 years.”

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy.”

“Only when one is connected to one's inner core is one connected to others. And, for me, the core, the inner spring, can best be re-found through solitude.”

“Drive with your inherent power on your wheel & it will get you to the top; Carry your true self & it will make you BIG;
Count your blessing & it will multiply.”

“I realize that if I wait until I am no longer afraid to act, write, speak, be, I'll be sending messages on a Ouija board, cryptic complaints from the other side.”

“Editing is Human, free-writing is Divine!”

“A year from now you'll wish you had started today.”

“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.”

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.”

“Never replace discipline with emotion.”

“You can't be the greatest without the 'test.'”

“The biggest limitation in our lives is the six inches between our ears.”

“Who are you going to believe - me, or your own eyes?”

“Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.”

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.”

“No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.”

“Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.”

“'I sought the LORD and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.' Psalm 34”

“Do not feel shy building castles in the air.
Your determination and conviction will bring them to earth.”

“It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.”

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

“Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.”

“If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you can't tell it about other people.”

“Every secret of a writer's soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works.”

“The upper crust of society is composed of a lot of crumbs held together by a bunch of old dough.”

“The only sensible ends of literature are: first, the pleasurable toil of writing; second, the gratification of one's family and friends; and lastly, the solid cash.”

“No one understands a writer like another writer.”

“If you follow your bliss you will find a path laid out before you that has been waiting for you all along and you will begin to live the life you ought to be living.”

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.”

“It's the passion for and knowledge of your subject matter that will bring you closest to your mark.

Where do your feet take you when you enter a book store? What's that twinge you get when you hear about a movie you're suddenly dying to see?

These are two of the great indicators of your passion and interest, and where you should be heading in the pursuit of your art.”

“If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.”

“The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, brain surgery.”

“Via clear nature of mind and methods of words,
the glows of meanings and direct perceptions:
with these four kinds of excellent awareness,
all things are manifest in views compassionate.”

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”

“While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity or our glorious uniqueness.”

“The clothes make the man. Naked people contribute little or nothing to society.”

“I would rather be a failure at something I loved doing than a success at something I hate to do.”

“It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

“He who Works with his Hands, is a Laborer.
He who Works with his Hands and his Head is a Craftsman.
He who Works with his Hands, his Head, and his Heart is an Artist.”

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not
dare; it is because we do not dare that they are
difficult.”

“Nurture your mind with great thoughts then write them down.”