100 favorite Writerly Quotes

100 Favorite Writerly Quotes:

1. "Don't tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of moonlight on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov

2. "The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say".  ~Anaïs Nin

3. "Fill your paper with the breathings of you heart." William Wordsworth

4. "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."  ~Mark Twain

5. "Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it."  ~Hannah Arendt

6."When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing."  ~Enrique Jardiel Poncela

7."When you are describing, A shape, or sound, or tint; Don't state the matter plainly,

 But put it in a hint; And learn to look at all things, With a sort of mental squint." ~Charles Lutwidge Dodgson


8. "A page a day is a book a year." ~ Richard Rhodes


9. "The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible."  ~Vladimir Nabakov


10. "Proofread carefully to see if you any words out."  ~Author Unknown


11. "A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer."  ~Karl Kraus


12. "To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make."  ~Truman Capote


13. "Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague."
~William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing