Thornton Wilder Quotes

In the world of words, the imagination is one of the forces of nature.

I'm happy to be a writer - of prose, poetry, every kind of writing. Every person in the world who isn't a recluse, hermit or mute uses words. I know of no other art form that we always use.

For purposes of marketing, writers are designated as poets, novelists, or something else. But writing is about matchmaking, an attempt to marry sensations with apt words.

Writing can be fun. I think the challenge is to convey interesting things in accessible ways, and that's what I aim to do in books.

The written word is the basic of everything. Most important, the idea, and after that, the dialogue. You can rehash the dialogue as you go along, it 's disgraceful to have to do this, but now and again you have no choice.

A novelist can get by on story, but the poet has nothing but the words.

I spend a lot of time writing. I get inspiration from texts rather than images.

Writing is not like acting, where you can pull these little stunts that create a particular effect. Words are all it is about, and the way you use words has to be individual and particular to you.

I would recommend the short story form, which is a lot harder to write since you have to be so careful with words, until there is plenty of time to doodle through a novel.

No matter how wonderful the story, it has to move on something, and that is language. The words that I use, the pace, the rhythm and cadences all need to be there. If they're not there, the story is like a boat that just sits there and doesn't move on the ocean.

My childhood was surrounded by books and writing. From a very early age I was fascinated by storytelling, by the printed word, by language, by ideas. So I would seek them out.

I write. This is what I do. My job is to sit down with my vocabulary, select words, and decide what order they should be placed in an attempt to keep someone's attention and perhaps provide them with a laugh or two along the way.

No, you're either born a writer, a storyteller, or you're not.

Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.

Writing is immensely difficult. The short forms especially.

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.

Ultimately, it's about the quality of the writing whatever style you are writing.

My job is to form the people, the story, the sentences. Every reader will bring their own life and their own history to the story and shape it accordingly. I guess you can say it's like I am sending them a letter.

That isn't writing at all, it's typing.

I love the essay. It's my favorite genre to work in.

I could tell you which writer's rhythms I am imitating. It's not exactly plagiarism, it's falling in love with good language and trying to imitate it.

My favorite writers have been those who've said things well.

Prose talks and poetry sings.

If I remember correctly, a writer is someone who wants to convey information. Language or writing is a code.

My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.