Gretchen Rubin Quotes

When I was a teenager, reading for me was as normal, as unremarkable as eating or breathing. Reading gave flight to my imagination and strengthened my understanding of the world, the society I lived in, and myself. More importantly, reading was fun, a way to live more than one life as I immersed myself in each good book I read.

When I was thirteen, I was in a supermarket with my mother, and for no reason at all, I picked up a science-fiction book at the checkout stand and started reading it. I couldn't believe I was doing that, actually reading a book. And, man, it opened up a whole new thing. Reading became the sparkplug of my imagination.

I write what I don't know. It's way more interesting.

Read a lot, live your life, and listen and watch, so that your mind fills up with millions of images.

Write. Write every day. Write honestly. Write something that doesn’t exist, and you wish did. Read. Learn. Study. Watch people. Listen to what they say, listen to how they say it and listen to what they do not say. Surprise yourself. Scare yourself.

When I got large enough to go to work, while employed I was reflecting on many things that would present themselves to my imagination; and whenever an opportunity occurred of looking at a book, when the school-children were getting their lessons, I would find many things that the fertility of my own imagination had depicted to me before.

Reading has been the fuel of my motivation: it has changed the direction in which I have traveled, and it has enhanced my creative imagination more than any other activity I have ever pursued.

I can create countries just as I can create the actions of my characters. That is why a lot of travel seems to me a waste of time.

I enjoy looking beyond the obvious and look at the stories happening all around me - you kind of formulate things in your mind and get excited about them.

Well, you know, writers just suck up new experiences - we're just like the vacuum cleaners of newness.

Write about what you want to know.

I think I write about things that are mysterious to me.

As long as there are things to wonder about, there are stories to be written about them. That makes me happy, because writing about things seems to be my thing.

A love of books has opened so many doors for me. Stories have inspired me and taught me to aspire.

I try not to invent; I try simply to translate the weird language of the natural world. And I'm not into absolute ownership of things.

Only a reader can become a writer. Develop a lively intellect and the ability to become interested in anything, no matter how mundane it might seem at first. Look for the story. Develop an eye for detail. Feed your mind and your brain: learn as much as you can about everything you can.

I'm driven to go out and find new things to write about.

I always write about what interests me.

Writing isn't necessarily about what one knows but what one wants to know.

I write and I read, and I write and read my way into and out of ideas and life. And that's what we do. That's what storytellers do.

I look for stories everywhere.

The thing that inspires me most is reading and just observing the people around me. I think those are the two things that make me want to write.

Writing will be like a journey, every word a footstep that takes me further into undiscovered land.

Find the key emotion; this may be all you need know to find your short story.

Books light the fire-whether it's a book that's already written, or an empty journal that needs to be filled in.