Nick Hornby Quotes

I'm a writer who likes to be influenced.

I feel like I've been very blessed to have some great mentors through the years, starting with Don James, who was my college coach, who really inspired me to want to be a coach, which is not something that I really had in mind.

San Diego shaped me a lot. The visual landscapes, the emotional panoramas, the teachers and mentors I had from the third grade through San Diego High - it's all a big part of the poetry fountain that I continue to drink from.

I try to read writers who are better than me because it inspires me to be better.

Writers do draw inspiration from their own lives, which, quite frankly, might be more interesting than fiction.

My dad was my best friend. I worshipped him. All of my success in life really comes from him. He believed that you get nothing from negativity.

No one inspired me to write, but writer Harlan Ellison terrified me into getting published.

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.

Shout-out to my dad - he influenced my style when I was 17.

I've been writing for as long as I can remember, and reading even before that. My mom still has stories that I wrote when I was in kindergarten. I was a reader and a re-reader. That's the main reason I became a writer.

I also have a role model back in New Zealand, a woman called Miranda Harcourt. She's an actress and a writer. Her willingness to stay open to material is really great. I read a lot, and I try to watch and listen to diverse material.

Roy Schneider was cool. I learned quite a bit from him.

More and more, when I single out the person out who inspired me most, I go back to my grandfather.

My heroes were never scientists. They were Graham Greene and Christopher Isherwood, you know, good writers.

All my big heroes are literary, writers.

My grandfather was a very courageous man, and I consider myself very lucky because I have three powerful role models that will obviously influence my career choices when I am older.

There are so many stories to be told, by so many good writers.

I was taught Shakespeare brilliantly by an eccentric genius at Harrow named Jeremy Lemmon who made me want to be a writer.

I do have the feeling that other writers can't help you with writing. I've gone to writers' conferences and writers' sessions and writers' clinics, and the more I see of them, the more I'm sure it's the wrong direction. It isn't the place where you learn to write.

My father's mother really had a profound influence on me. She literally began her day with an hour of reading. But the most fundamental impact was education.

Liz Benedict, a teacher of mine at Iowa, is the person who introduced me to James Salter's work.

I learned so much from Ric Flair... just listening to him guide me early in my career.

I've gotten lots of great advice from lots of people that I admire, but the person who influenced me more than anyone in my life was my grandmother.

I always said that if I had the platform and the opportunity to share my story and make it easier for others, I would - so that, in a way, I can be the role model that I was looking for as a kid.

Mum has been the biggest influence on me.