Philip Roth Quotes

Usually after finishing a novel, I have a head full of bad ideas for the next one.

I knew I was a writer; I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't know what to write.

After 'A Suitable Boy,' I didn't write anything, not even a short story. I thought to myself: 'I ought to start writing.' But I can never force myself to write.

You go from these high hopes when you're writing to just a desperate want of not making a complete fool of yourself by the end of it.

The problem with books, now that I've written one, is that the idea of adaptation is so much easier than sitting down to write something new.

I, for one, find writing excruciating. Some mornings, as I'm on my way to my desk, my hands actually tremble with fear. The fear, of course, is that I'll sit down at the desk and discover that what I've written is claptrap. Fear inevitably leads to procrastination.

No matter how many books you've written, whenever you sit down to write a new book, you always feel the same challenge - how do you shape this story into a book that people are going to love.

I looked back at the years since I'd left college and thought of the list of things I'd have liked to do. I'd always wanted to write a book - not a small undertaking. I never felt I had the time or creative energy to spare in order to write one as well as I wanted.

I now have to find a reason to write, every single day.

I spent six years after my first novel and five years after my second without getting into a new book.

With the first novel, I had to tell myself, 'No one is ever going to read it, so you might as well just write it.' With the second, I was pretty sure someone was going to read it.

Until a book starts forming in your head, you always wonder, 'Am I going to be able to do this again?'

I didn't know how to be a writer. But I thought, 'I can do this.'

I think you get so wrapped up in the book you're currently writing, it's hard to think about anything else. But I know as soon as I'm done with this book, I'll move on to something else.

I feel like writing a book there's always a version in your head that's an amazing version, but then you write the version that you can write.

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

As a writer, I've always been somebody who's been productive and hustled hard.

Writing a book is a long and difficult process for me. I'm a slow writer, so I spend the year with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike in my head. I was thinking about this the other day. I wrote the first book in 1987. Literally every day since that time, Elvis and Joe have been in my head. They're always there. I started these guys because I like them.

I found my first novel difficult. I don't want to make it sound like it's any more difficult than driving a cab or going to any other job, but there are so many opportunities for self-doubt, that you just kind of need to soldier on.

Listen, I wrote 10 unsuccessful books before I broke through, so I'm looking all the time to keep my books fascinating. I want to write what people want to read, not push any message.

I thought I could write. So it was my intention to start off as a writer. But I wasn't really great at delivering the word at the end of the day.

I just have to proceed as usual. No matter what happens, nothing helps with the writing of the next book.

One of the big breakthroughs I had as a writer was when I stopped agonising over every word.

For a writer, life is always too short to write. I will just try my best during what remains of my life.

Anybody who likes writing a book is an idiot. Because it's impossible; it's like having a homework assignment every stinking day until it's done. And by the time you get it in, it's done and you're sitting there reading it, and you realize the 12,000 things you didn't do. I mean, writing isn't fun. It's never been fun.