Mark Leyner Quotes

I dreamed of becoming a writer. And this dream is about to become a reality with the publication of my first, and hopefully not my last, children's book.

I also became a poet, and for one year lived in a Paradise of my own creation; I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated.

Every 'Observer' writer wants to be a novelist.

Combine a left-leaning upbringing with a family with direct experience of the Holocaust and someone with aspirations to write and I guess, sooner or later, that person will have a stab at writing something about the Holocaust.

My dad was the baby. When he was born they were already successful. They sent him to business school - he probably would have loved to have been a poet or a writer or something, and he was very creative.

Theatre and opera were always the twin kingdoms that I felt I had to conquer, because they were my parents' favorites.

I always wanted to be a writer, from being a little kid onwards. My dad and my mum both had phases when that was what they did.

If my mother hadn't been trying to be a writer, I don't know if I would have thought of it myself.

The artistic side of our family was very important because one person encourages the other. It was a vey enlightening place to be as a kid because of all the music and dancing, and my dad played banjo; my sisters played piano and sang.

I have an English literature degree. I wanted to be the next great American novelist from a very early age, but I put it aside for a while, because I got very realistic at one point.

If not for my mom, I wouldn't be a writer today. When I was a little girl, I rarely saw her without a book in her hand.

My father was a classical musician and my mother was a writer.

Naturally, it was easier for me to envision becoming a novelist than it is for most people. I had two great in-house teachers; I had parents who considered a career in the arts a real possibility rather than a dreamy arrow shot into the sky.

The appellation of a Scottish Bard is by far my highest pride; to continue to deserve it is my most exalted ambition.

When I was young, I was stupid, and I thought maybe I would write the fancy stuff.

I was torn between the Americanness my mom wanted for me and the Mexicanness my father wanted - they were wrestling for cultural influence over me.

One of my favorite authors is Michael Ondaatje.

I fell in love with the idea of writing songs when I was a child. I thought I was going to be a journalist at first, but I gradually fell in love with all these great writers like Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, who were at the peak of their powers then.

I've been writing since I was six years old. It's hard to imagine stopping. I would hate to think that I've already written my best book.

Well, I didn't feel that I could do justice to this story of my parents and their generation, and all that they did to make it possible for me to be who I am, if I sort of just put it at the beginning of a book about my last eight years in foreign policy.

I was playing the game where I was going to be a great TV or film writer some day and there was nothing else that I thought about, including other people.

Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea They thought great thoughts about liberty Poets wrote down words that did fit Writers wrote books Thinkers thought about it.

I dream of writing a book like LOVERS some day. It is so spare but so rich. It is history made intimate, and a masterpiece of compression.

I always admire writers. My father was a writer, a poet. I always admire people who can clearly state their mind.

I was thinking, "So, I’m Emperor, am I? What nonsense! But at least I'll be able to make people read my books now.