Ann Patchett Quotes

If they won't write the kind of books we like to read we shall have to write them ourselves.

If you don't see the book you want on the shelves, write it.

Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method.

To write a book is for all the world like humming a song—be but in tune with yourself, madam, 'tis no matter how high or how low you take it.

I thought, if I write a book that is not a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, it's not going to mean that I will not get any criticism. I might as well write the book that I want to write.

I had no ghost writers for the books - I wrote every line myself.

You can't write ... on the strength of influence. You can only write a good story or a good novel by yourself.

When I want to read something nice, I sit down and write it myself.

If you want to read a perfect book there is only one way: write it.

A book comes and says, 'Write me.

Go where the pleasure is in your writing. Go where the pain is. Write the book you would like to read. Write the book you have been trying to find but have not found. But write. And remember, there are no rules for our profession. Ignore rules. Ignore what I say here if it doesn't help you. Do it your own way. Every writer knows fear and discouragement. Just write.The world is crying for new writing. It is crying for fresh and original voices and new characters and new stories. If you won't write the classics of tomorrow, well, we will not have any.

Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method. Writers are really people who write books not because they are poor, but because they are dissatisfied with the books which they could buy but do not like.

The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book.

If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it.

I do like the idea of being an auteur in the sense of writing and being in your own stuff.

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

I wrote my own verses. Anything I did, I wrote myself.

When I want to read a novel, I write one.

I started to read my first book at about the age of six. I started to write a book simultaneously. Not to compete, just to augment. And that's how one starts. Or I started.

For me, reading books and writing them are tied together. The words of other writers teach me and refresh me and inspire me.

Write the book you want to read, the one you cannot find.

But how do I get to having to write a book?... It was a mother who bore me, not an inkwell!

When you write, you're alone in a room. And when someone reads a book, they're alone in a room, too, usually. It's a really intimate exchange. And so people ask me where I get the boldness to talk about this or that, but I didn't feel like it required any sort of courage, because I was alone. Sometimes it feels weird for people to read it.

Like all former thinkers, I'm writing a book.

If you don't like my book, write your own.