Guillermo Cabrera Infante Quotes

I like writing, but I write for self-improvement more than I do for money.

I think all writers are mainly writing for themselves because I believe that most writers are writing based on a need to write. But at the same time, I feel that writers are, of course, writing for their readers, too.

I have no idea why I write. The old standards are: I like to express my feelings, stretch my imagination, earn money.

It was really written as most, I think, books are by writers - for themselves. There was something that just had to be written, in a way that it had to be written. If you know what I mean.

I write what I'd like to read and just hope that, along the way, others might like to read them, too.

That has to remain the principal reason for doing it, doesn't it? I know it's possible to write for money, and many very good writers have done so. But for me, it has to remain the principal thing that I actually want to do the writing.

I write what I'd like to read and just hope that, along the way, others might like to read them, too.

I didn't have any concept of Trainspotting being published. It was a selfish act. I did it for myself.

I am writing to please myself, though there is a feeling in some place in my head that this may be publishable. I haven't been writing for nothing.

I like to be read. That's most of what any writer could want.

I don't write for publishers, certainly not for critics, and not for readers, But I am delighted that so many people have found my books enjoyable and want to continue to read them.

The day the producers aren't minting money, or the fans are done with me and, most of all, I as a person get bored of acting, I will stop and pursue my other interests. There is a lot to do: painting, writing, direction.

The whole point of writing is to have something in your gut or in your soul or in your mind that's burning to be written.

I think that like all writers - and if any writer disagrees with this, then he is not a writer - I write primarily for myself.

I love writing. I've pursued it with a passion.

I didn't originally intend on writing a book. I started writing during the day to feel like I was accomplishing something creative.

I'd have stopped writing years ago if it were for the money.

No writer … has any life in the absence of people who need what he writes

As long as I'm writing stuff and people are reading it, I'll be happy.

Anything that feels like good characters, I am excited to do whether I write it or not. But if I don't find it in the world, I will write it myself.

It's so easy, as a writer, to get stuck in your own head, to live in the little worlds you create. To forget that there are people out there reading your work, people who may be deeply affected by what you do, that you are writing not just for yourself, but for them.

For me, as a writer, I desperately want to be read. I'm very conscious of readers as I'm writing. I think, 'If you write for yourself, then why don't you just keep it under the bed,' so I definitely write for other people.

Eventually, I realised that I wanted to try to create something myself, and that's what writing novels is. Not because I wanted to put myself in front of the world, but because I wanted to create something that would go out into the world.

I know it's a cliché to say I write for myself, but I write for myself.

I write as a way of keeping myself going. You build your life around writing, and it's what gets you through. So it's partly just curiosity to see what you can do.