Leon Uris Quotes

For 20 years, Simon & Schuster asked me, 'Why don't you write your autobiography?'

What's gratifying is that it's my books that are being read and reread until they're battered over the years. I love that.

When I was really young, Dad wasn't that well known. I don't remember when I realised he was a writer, but I do remember him leaving his full-time job at the Central Electrical Generating Board to concentrate on books.

I think my first story sold for $550. This was in 1954, and it seemed like quite a lot of money, and I said to myself, 'Hey, I'm a professional writer now.'

I began writing seriously in my mid-20s and didn't publish my first book until I was 41.

When I was publishing my first books, the previous generation of authors was fading away, so I was welcomed because I was a new author.

I was so flattered that someone wanted me to write a book, I said I would. It was published in 1969.

In 1957, I decided: write or perish.

I don't want to be famous per se, but I want to write books for as long as I can. And I plan on writing a lot.

After 20 years, a million written words, and nine rejected novels, I finally landed a book contract.

After seven years of writing - and working many jobs to support my family - I finally got published.

I sometimes feel that if your book sells more than 20 years, then there's something in it that you can say, gee, I did something that endures, that's timeless.

An aging writer has the not insignificant satisfaction of a shelf of books behind him that, as they wait for their ideal readers to discover them, will outlast him for a while.

When all of us are forgotten, people will still be remembering Stephen King.

There comes a point when you can more or less count the number of books you're going to write before you die.

'Presumed Innocent' was written over a six to seven year period with intervals in between where I was figuring out the end of the book and writing other stuff... My life as a writer was carried on against the odds. I had written four unpublished novels by then... as a writer of fiction, I hadn't gotten very far. I just wanted to do it.

You're too busy writing the next book to worry about Googling yourself all the time.

My family and friends have been monumentally supportive from well before I was a published author.

'Fallen Too Far' was my first NYT bestseller. That changed my life.

I sold my first story when I was 21 in 1973.

I always loved to read, and I wanted to be part of the project of literature. My physical longevity is due to luck, and my literary longevity is due to my physical longevity.

One has to be ambitious to start writing.

Having my novels published is a dream come true.

I always assumed I could never make a living out of literary fiction, and I was right. When I did try, it took four years before being published.

At one point, I had a story accepted at the 'New Yorker,' which sent off weird bells in people when I told them - 'Oh,' they thought, 'now you are a writer' - where I really had been for the last 30-odd years.