"The art is nothing without the gift. But the gift is nothing without work."
— Oscar Wilde

"A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."
— Thomas Mann

"You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children."
— Madeleine L'Engle

"If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that."
— Stephen King

"I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions."
— James A. Michener

"Always be a poet, even in prose."
— Charles Baudelaire

"I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?"
— J.R.R. Tolkien

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."
— Ray Bradbury (Zen in the Art of Writing)

"Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either."
— Meg Cabot