B. J. Novak Quotes

I feel I've got 10 books in me.

Comedy will always be central to what I do, it's just an instinct for me, but I am a writer and always have been.

I think writing gives me creative freedom.

I wasn't a class clown, I just found at an early age that I was able to make people laugh. So I mostly wrote funny stuff instead of writing what I was supposed to be writing.

Writing is showbusiness for shy people. That's how I see it.

I love acting because it's empowering. It empowers me.

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.

There's actually nothing interesting about me except what I write.

I wanted to be an actor. That was my real goal. But I wasn't any good at it, so I wrote my own material and acted through that. That's my idea of fun. I get to be all these things in the songs.

To be a writer is to connect and to play and to attempt to see clearly and understand. It astounds me regularly that feeling things deeply and writing them down is basically my job description.

Creatively, it's great, because when you write your own movies, you get to create whatever you want.

I was never really a writer, I was always more of a performer.

I'm addicted to creating and writing.

In playing, I suppose my greatest gift was to express the way I felt or the willingness to express myself.

Why my interest in writers? Well, I'm one, and many of my friends are writers. I know what it's like to write. I'm interested in the creative process. I'm fascinated by the disparity between who we are on the outside, and what we have bubbling away inside us.

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life.

I always knew I was going to grow up to be a storyteller; that's one of the earliest things I remember about myself. There was never a question of me not writing.

I love to write.

I always was a writer, but then I wanted to do stand-up because I thought that was a way that I could perform what I wrote.

I'm pretty grounded on my own passion - writing books, you know, doing programs, speaking around the country. And I love what I do.

I was a standup comedian, which is kind of like writing and directing yourself.

I wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember.

Acting is an incredibly gratifying, creative experience when you're doing it. But in the off-season, you want to scratch that itch, and writing has become that to me. It's a really pure form of creativity. It's good for my mental health in the same way reading books is good for me. It makes the day brighter.

If I have a long period of time away from acting, I tend to write.