Quotation Saturday

I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.
Leonardo da Vinci
...as his last words

My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.
~Anton Chekhov

The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense.
~Tom Clancy

Our lives with all their miracles and wonders are merely a discontinuous string of incidents – until we create the narrative that gives them meaning
~Arlene Goldbard
Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar who will deceive with his tongue will not hesitate to do the same with his pen.
~Maimonides

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.
~Elvis Presley
We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.
~Ernest Hemingway

In brief, I spend half my time trying to learn the secrets of other writers - to apply them to the expression of my own thoughts.
~Shirley Ann Grau

I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first drafts. But I'm one of the world's great rewriters.
~James A. Michener

A short story can be held in the mind all in one piece. It's less like a building than a fiendish device. Every bit of it must be cunningly made and crafted to fit together perfectly and without waste so it can perform its task with absolute precision. That purpose might be to move the reader to tears or wonder, to awaken the conscience, to console, to gladden, or to enlighten. But each short story has one chief purpose, and every sentence, phrase, and word is crafted to achieve that end. The ideal short story is like a knife - strongly made, well balanced, and with an absolute minimum of moving parts.
~Michael Swanwick