Quotes for the Week: Writing

“The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.”
—Philip Roth

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
—Stephen King

“Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. … It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.”
—Enid Bagnold

“I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.”
—Roald Dahl

“If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.”
—Peter Handke

“We’re past the age of heroes and hero kings. … Most of our lives are basically mundane and dull, and it’s up to the writer to find ways to make them interesting.”
—John Updike

“I don’t need an alarm clock. My ideas wake me.”
—Ray Bradbury

“Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.”
—Ray Bradbury

“Remember: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.”
—Ray Bradbury

“I always start writing with a clean piece of paper and a dirty mind.”
—Patrick Dennis

“Writers live twice.”
—Natalie Goldberg