Writing Quotes

I think one of the things about writing in the studio is that the song hasn't matured, if you like, so quite often the vocals are early attempts. Whereas once you've taken it out on the road a bit, you learn more about a song.

I think of myself as a writer who happens to be doing his writing as an anthropologist.

In writing and politicking, it's best not to think about it, just do it.

Well, one thing I'm really interested in, when I'm writing, is being accurate.

The outstanding people realized that the job involved more than just writing a good strategic plan. It was also important that top management should understand the plan and be prepared to adopt it.

Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth.

Maybe the example of Southern fiction writing has been so powerful that Southern poets have sort of keyed themselves to that.

Well I guess the plan was to write poetry and publish books and make a living from writing poetry. That was a pretty ambitious plan I guess.

If you can't annoy somebody, there's little point in writing.

When writing isn't going well-then the bad thing about being a writer is that I also have the freedom and flexibility to do something badly, and no one else can fix it for me.

There is no way of writing stories that I haven't done.

I wrote a script. I actually enjoyed writing it more than acting. It's about the Irish rebellion of 1920, which is a fascinating period and place for me.

Every time I flicked channels, there I was, talking. I was talking too much and writing too little. So Naomi and I went to Hawaii. The phone was cut off and we lost touch. This gave me the chance to have a good think about my life.

I think some of the best modern writing comes now from travellers.

I'm writing another novel and I know what I'm going to do after, which may be something more like this again, maybe some strange mixture of fiction and non-fiction.

My only fantasy about writing was that in my old days, after directing many masterpieces, I would write my memoirs.

Teaching writing over the years intrudes on your own writing in important ways, taking away some of the excitement of poetry.

When I sit down to write, I don't think about writing about an idea or a given message. I just try to write a story which is hard enough.

I was writing notes, but not composing poems. The Hunter began to develop out of this fragmented process.

Jacques Derrida is a very important thinker and philosopher who has made serious contributions to both philosophy and literary criticism. Roland Barthes is the one I feel most affinity for, and Michel Foucault, well, his writing influenced my novel, 'Middlesex.'

Lyric writing is an interesting process in Sonic Youth. There's three people writing now, and we've all had a lot of interest and involvement with expression through words.

But when it comes to writing the thing that I've sort of been thinking about lately, is why? You know, is it rational? Is it logical that anybody should be expected to be afraid of the work that they feel they were put on this Earth to do.

I find it both fascinating and disconcerting when I discover yet another person who believes that writing can't be taught. Frankly, I don't understand this point of view.

If you can't turn yourself into your customer, you probably shouldn't be in the ad writing business at all.

I don't think there's much point in bemoaning the state of the world unless there's some way you can think of to improve it. Otherwise, don't bother writing a book; go and find a tropical island and lie in the sun.

I pay attention to the actors and stuff, but not even that much. I don't pay attention to who's writing.

One problem was that my direct testimony was in writing, so a lot of people didn't get to see it. I hope they see it, because I think it built a very strong case.

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.

I intend to keep writing Christmas songs. There's still a lot more about Christmas that can be captured and feel like old-time Christmas. A lot of the traditions haven't been explained in song.

I obviously prefer writing novels but I take my journalism very seriously, and I enjoy doing it between novels. It gives me an opportunity to move in the outside world.