Quotation Saturday

The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn't behave that way you would never do anything.
~ ~~John Irving (1942 -)

Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.
~~ John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

I take the view, and always have, that if you cannot say what you are going to say in twenty minutes you ought to go away and write a book about it.
~~Lord Brabazon

You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.
~~Ray Bradbury,(1920 - ), advice to writers

’Detail makes the difference between boring and terrific writing. Its the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors.
~~Rhys Alexander, Writing Gooder, 12-09-05

A good many young writers make the mistake of enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. This is too much of a temptation to the editor.
~~Ring Lardner (1885 - 1933), "How to Write Short Stories"

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.
~~Stephen King (1947 - ), "Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully - in Ten Minutes", 1988

I never feel that I have comprehended an emotion, or fully lived even the smallest events, until I have reflected upon it in my journal; my pen is my truest confidant, holding in check the passions and disappointments that I dare not share even with my beloved.
~~Stephanie Barron, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, 1996