Sophie Hannah Quotes

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

A.J. Liebling, one of my heroes, used to say that he could write better than anyone who wrote faster, and faster than anyone who could write better. I'm one nine-hundredth as good as Liebling, but that principle may slightly apply.

Sean's a great, great writer.

There are probably many, many people who are better writers than me.

My preference is for really good writing, and I just really don't care where it is.

Good writers hate bad writing but hating bad writing doesn’t make you good. Writing badly does.

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

Writers - all writers, even screenwriters - like to make their mark. I don't think many screenwriters can write. They pass as writers.

It's easy to write a good column if you've got good information. It's hard if you have to depend on style alone. I suppose there are people who can get away with styling on a regular basis. I'm not one of them. You're probably not, either.

I can still put down some pretty nasty stuff on paper, which is what I enjoy doing.

There are plenty of clever young writers. But there is too much genius, not enough talent.

I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.

We like to think about how smart we are. But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it's all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can't change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.

The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything.

English of course is your major tool, but it is not nearly so important as other aspects of writing for example you have to have some natural ability you can't buy it no one puts it there you're born with it.

I'm quite good at not writing.

While I wasn't very good at much else in school, in my creative-writing classes or when we had to do some writing in my English classes, I tended to do better at it.

George is so prolific as a writer.

I ain't no author, man... my writing skills are not of 'New York Times' best-seller quality, trust and believe it ain't. My vocabulary ain't.

The fact that we write about it doesn't mean we play better than ordinary players at all.

Good writers are of necessity rare.

I don't know what makes a writer's voice. It's dozens of things. There are people who write who don't have it. They're tone-deaf, even though they're very fluent. It's an ability, like anything else, being a doctor or a veterinarian, or a musician.

If something is well-written, it has a chance to be good and if it's not well-written, it will not be good. It could even become popular, but it won't be good.

My dad is a great writer. Naturally talented, naturally charming. He embodies that back-in-the-day cool.

The writer can choose what he writes about but he cannot choose what he is able to make live.