Tom Stoppard Quotes

You have to first be a writer and somebody who loves to write. If I couldn't travel, I would still write.

I'm not that interested in writing for myself. That's not where my impetus as a writer comes from.

I wanted to write.

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 love writing novels, even if only a few thousand people read them. Here's my soul; I hope it appeals to your soul.

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 keep writing because it is deeply pleasurable to me.

I love writing. I feel more connected to that than I do a lot of the other things.

I always tell audiences when I talk about writing: Writing isn't something I do; writing is something that I am. I am writing - it's just an expression of me.

But I do not have the reader in mind when I write. No true writer does that.

I believe in the verb, not the noun - I am not a writer, but someone compelled to write.

I think I'm drawn to writing about something which feels intense and important.

When I write, I enjoy myself so much that what is being written really needs no reader.

A key to my thinking has always been the almost fanatical belief that what I was engaged in was a literary art form. That belief was compounded out of ego and necessity, I guess, a combination of the two.

I write about what haunts me, and I write the books I myself am dying to read. I love it. I can't think of anything I'd rather do.

I've always loved writing. It was always what I wanted to do.

I'm basically always writing. Why wouldn't I? I love it.

Even if someone doesn't like it, or just likes it for me, storytelling has been the one true love story of my entire life.

Even if nobody was listening to it, I'd still be making music.

Every work of art has its necessity; find out your very own. Ask yourself if you would do it if nobody would ever see it, if you would never be compensated for it, if nobody ever wanted it. If you come to a clear ‘yes’ in spite of it, then go ahead and don’t doubt it anymore.

The very impulse to write springs from an inner chaos crying for order - for meaning.

It's okay to embark on writing because you think it will get you love. At least it gets you going, but it doesn't last. After a while you realize that no one cares that much. Then you find another reason: money. You can dream on that one while the bills pile up. Then you think: "Well, I'm the sensitive type. I have to express myself." Do me a favor. Don't be so sensitive. Be tough. It will get you further along when you get rejected. Finally, you just do it because you happen to like it.

People who write for reward by way of recognition or monetary gain don't know what they're doing. They're in the category of those who write; they are not writers. Writing is simply something you must do. It's rather like virtue in that it is its own reward. Writing is selfish and contradictory in its terms. First of all, you're writing for an audience of one, you must please the one person you're writing for. Yourself.

Man is driven to create; I know I really love to create things. And while I'm not good at painting, drawing, or music, I can write software.

You run the risk of falling on your face, but, again, music is an individual pursuit - it is made to please yourself first.