Don McLean Quotes

Consider what it is like to go into a new classroom and to see before you suddenly, and in a way you cannot avoid recognizing, the dreadful consequences of a year's wastage of so many lives.

Pay attention to your passions. They are the key to starting and finishing the book you are meant to write. I don't believe in talent. I believe in passion.

When one wants to write, one writes. If one is condemned to write, one writes.

My son had toyed with the idea of writing and trying to write a little bit, so that kind of gave me the bug to write also.

I never write a book unless I can't help it. Something has to bother me, like a mosquito, until I have to do something to relieve the itch.

Man knows so much and does so little.

Sometimes reading other writers helps. You learn some little technique that turns out to be useful, or simply are reinspired by the amazing things others do.

Inspiration comes from so many sources. Music, other fiction, the non-fiction I read, TV shows, films, news reports, people I know, stories I hear, misheard words or lyrics, dreams... Motivation? The memory of the rush I get from a really good writing session - even on a bad day, I know I'll find that again if I keep going.

The writing part of my life never changes, because that's just when the inspiration comes.

Where there are large powers with little ambition... nature may be said to have fallen short of her purposes.

I never thought I'd be a writer. I never thought I'd be able to read a book, let alone write one. So if books like this inspire kids to write, or even read a whole book, I think it's good.

Occasionally people ask me how it is I write different types of things, and my answer to that is it's very natural. You get bored writing one kind of thing all the time.

Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life, and... the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use.

Well, I never really practiced because I never had the opportunity to practice.

Where there are large powers with little ambition, nature may be said to have fallen short of her purposes.

History is nothing if not an epic tale of missed opportunities.

I kind of found a niche for myself after 'Firefly'. I found something that I enjoyed doing and that I did well, but as far as how I seek out a part, it's always different. It's always something that lights you on fire when you read it. It might be just one scene, it might be one line that defines the character for you.

Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.

I love it when I start a book that is so good that all I want to do is get back to my own writing, in a competitive way.

You know, there's always someone in mind when I'm writing. You know, it's all comes from somewhere inside.

Like everything, what compels one to put pen to paper is a great question.

I always played around with writing songs, but when you're spending a lot of time in bars, you have a lot of big ideas, but you don't do much with them.

An unused life is an early death.

I have no idea why I write. The old standards are: I like to express my feelings, stretch my imagination, earn money.

As far as writing, I like watching bad movies. Nothing stops me in my tracks more than watching a great film like 'The Godfather' or 'Dog Day Afternoon' or 'The Graduate.' You watch one of those, and you never want to write again. Whereas with bad movies, it makes you think, If that counts, I certainly could write.