Elizabeth Berg Quotes

I never think that any writer can teach someone how to write.

I find it both fascinating and disconcerting when I discover yet another person who believes that writing can't be taught. Frankly, I don't understand this point of view.

People say you can't teach writing, but I think that's nonsense.

Writing can't be taught.

I'm not a writer who teaches. I'm a teacher who writes.

I've taken every writing class I've had available. I took classes in high school, and I took English and writing classes in community college, but I dropped out of college. I also attended a local writing workshop two years ago.

When I began to be published, people got the idea that I should 'teach writing,' which I have no idea how to do and don't really believe in.

However great a man's natural talent may be, the act of writing cannot be learned all at once.

You don't teach information in a writing workshop.

Writing teaches writing.

Creative writing lessons can be very useful, just like music lessons can be useful. To say, as Hanif Kureishi did, that 99.9% of students are talentless is cruel and wrong. I believe that certain writers like to believe they arrived into the world with special, unteachable powers because it is good for the ego.

There are seldom more than a couple of students in any workshop who seem natural writers.

Good writing of course requires talent, and no one can teach you to have talent.

I taught writing classes at the University of Pennsylvania for a number of years and I realized that all you can do is encourage people and give them assignments and hope they will write them.

I think writing is such a great talent, and if I was better, I would love to be a writer.

I'm a great believer in the experiential theory of writing.

I think you can be taught to write. You can't be taught to be a good writer. For that, you have to bring something to it, yourself, something that can't be given to you.

I have always thought that writers come with any variety of attributes. Some are capable and some aren't.

I think some aspects of writing can be taught. Obviously, you can't teach vision or talent. But you can help with comfort.

Nothing teaches great writing like the very best books do. Yet, good teachers often help students cross that bridge, and I have to say that I had a few extraordinary English teachers in high school whom I still credit for their guidance.

Early on, it's good to develop the ability to write. Learning to write is a useful exercise, even if what you're writing about is not that relevant.

I'm here because of what I write. Obviously, I must know something.

Like most art forms, writing is part instinct and part craft. The craft part is the part that can be taught, and that can make a crucial difference to lots of writers.

I always had a thing for writing. Even when I was in school, I was always good at writing.

You can't teach somebody how to be a good writer.