Alexandra Petri Quotes

I used to think that: whenever I heard that someone had taken 10 years to write a novel, I'd think it must be a big, serious book. Now I think, 'No - it took you one year to write, and nine years to sit around eating Kit Kats.'

I have been privileged to write across multiple facets of my life: to write romance novels, to write memoir, to write about leadership, and to write tax and social policy articles. The act of writing is integral to who I am. I'm a writer, a politician, a tax attorney, a civic leader, and an entrepreneur. I am proud of what I've accomplished.

It's amazing what I could've written in my life if I had realized that I should keep writing and not masturbating.

Take the time to write. You can do your life's work in half an hour a day.

People who use time wisely spend it on activities that advance their overall purpose in life.

To be a poet is as serious, long-term and natural as the effort to be the best human you can be. To express something well is not a question of having a top-class education and understanding poetic forms: rather, it's a question of paying attention.

As a teacher at Princeton, I'm surrounded by people who work hard so I just make good use of my time. And I don't really think of it as work - writing a novel, in one sense, is a problem-solving exercise.

One thing I always did in my career was writing. I always was writing. I was trying to create things. For myself, for other people.

The way you get better is putting words on the page and getting them behind you.

If you don't like my book, write your own. If you don't think you can write a novel, that ought to tell you something. If you think you can, do. No excuses. If you still don't like my novels, find a book you do like.

I have great ideas, but the follow through is always really difficult for me. As my kid gets a little bit older, if I feel like I have a little bit more time on my hands, I'd like to get more into developing ideas and writing things.

I began working quite young, writing, growing, maturing, always striving to top myself - to make people laugh hard at things they know and believe deep in their hearts to be true.

Social media is a giant distraction to the ultimate aim, which is honing your craft as a songwriter. There are people who are exceptional at it, however, and if you can do both things, then that's fantastic, but if you are a writer, the time is better spent on a clever lyric than a clever tweet.

Every time I write a new book, I want to push myself to try something different.

As you have learnt something of time, value and make a proper use of it. Once past, it knows no return; how necessary, then, that you spend it in improving your mind and fitting it for future happiness and usefulness.

I was all about my thoughts, my work, my inspiration. I was always in hair.

If your focus in life is on being productive, when things are not happening... one has to ask oneself, 'Is this worth a grown man's time?'

I definitely still like writing one-liners, but I also think that I've changed a lot in that I've allowed myself freedom to grow.

I have only a relatively tiny gap of being at my best, in my prime. And I want to make a difference during that time.

When I wrote my novel, 'The Ministry of Special Cases,' I couldn't even brush my teeth. I had to write in isolation from everything else. I thought a play would take away from my fiction, but the more projects I work on, the more time I have.

I see a skill developing of writing about not just feelings that I'm feeling, but things that I deeply care about as well.

I'm a bit of a strange human being - I love to work. I love art. I love self-expression.

I just said, 'I need to do something because staying up and watching YouTube and late night TV is not cool,' so I just decided to write a script.

When I'm not worrying about what other people want, that's when I do the best work.

I started my own chat show on Instagram, that also takes time. Then, I have also been singing and painting. I actually enjoy the down time that I get.