After the writer's death, reading his journal is like receiving a long letter.
Jean Cocteau

Every sentence has a truth waiting at the end of it and the writer learns how to know it when he finally gets there.
Don DeLillo

In a repressive society, a writer can be deeply influential, but in a society that's filled with glut and repetition and endless consumption, the act of terror may be the only meaningful act.
Don DeLillo

If I were a writer, how I would enjoy being told the novel is dead. How liberating to work in the margins, outside a central perception. You are the ghoul of literature. Lovely.
Don DeLillo

One truth is the swing of the sentence, the beat and poise, but down deeper it's the integrity of the writer as he matches with the language.
Don DeLillo

The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.
Don DeLillo

There's a moral force in a sentence when it comes out right. It speaks the writer's will to live.
Don DeLillo

I was training to be a lawyer... I was president of the law society at Glasgow University, and my bass guitarist was my secretary of my law society; the lead guitarist and writer worked at the law firm that I worked.
Gerard Butler

Then I read Little Women, and of course, like a lot of really young girls, I was very taken with Jo - Jo being the writer and the misfit.
Patti Smith

If I have any regrets, I could say that I'm sorry I wasn't a better writer or a better singer.
Patti Smith

Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

You want to be a writer, don't know how or when? Find a quiet place, use a humble pen.
Paul Simon

Artie is a singer, and I'm a writer and player and a singer. We didn't work together on a creative level and prepare the songs. I did that.
Paul Simon

The number one secret of being a successful writer is this: marry an English major.
Stephen Ambrose

The writer is always tricking the reader into listening to their dream.
Joan Didion

The reason a writer writes a book is to forget a book and the reason a reader reads one is to remember it.
Tom Wolfe

Becoming a mother has helped make me a tougher, stronger writer.
Jessica Hagedorn

Without the faintest possibility of finding a job, I decided to devote myself to literature: it was about time to find out what I was worth as a writer.
Jose Saramago

I'm fairly competant as a director and actor, but I am Mr. Neurotic as a writer. I just don't have enough confidence in my abilities to take criticism well. I take it personally. Start with 'It's a masterpiece,' and then tell me what you think could be changed.
Tim Robbins

The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer, and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn't require any.
Russell Baker