Jhumpa Lahiri Quotes

Being a writer means taking the leap from listening to saying 'Listen to me'.

Part of my job as Children's Laureate is to visit schools and talk about my love of books and stories and encourage them all to do it as well - to read, to write, to never be afraid of their own voice. Because we all have something to say.

My improv definitely shows a different side of myself, which is more true to what my real humor is and what my real personality is, and I think - I guess 'wild' is a good word for it. I'm still sweet! But I won't let anyone walk all over me.

I've always been slightly afraid of coming out with my record because it's so personal to me. Now it doesn't feel as frightening as I thought it would.

I'm telling you, there is a lot of power in being unapologetic.

When I got somethin' to say, I'll say it.

Expressing myself is one of my strengths.

Not an Apology' is a good title, because I speak my mind more than the average teenage girl does, and I don't ever really apologize for having an opinion and using strong words to describe things and talk about how I feel.

Writing is a fine thing, because it combines the two pleasures of talking to yourself and talking to a crowd.

Don't be 'a writer'. Be writing.

Writing is the starting point from which all goodness (and crappiness) flows.

The courage to be yourself is the essence of hip hop

I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.

To choose to write is to reject silence.

It was not in my nature to be an assertive person. I was used to looking to others for guidance, for influence, sometimes for the most basic cues of life. And yet writing stories is one of the most assertive things a person can do. Fiction is an act of willfulness, a deliberate effort to reconceive, to rearrange, to reconstitute nothing short of reality itself. Even among the most reluctant and doubtful of writers, this willfulness must emerge. Being a writer means taking the leap from listening to saying, "Listen to me."

I love being an author. I love actual writing, and I love communicating with children. And it keeps me young.

If you have something to say, then say it. Express yourself and break the rules.

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

The important thing about doing art and writing is that we are using our voices and using them really, really loudly. And to any girls or young women who want to write comics, I tell them, "You have to use your voice. You have to take up space." We have to fight to be heard. No one else is going to fight for us.

They said I would never write this book. Well, f**k ’em – ’cos here it is. All I have to do now is remember something... Bollocks. I can’t remember anything.

If you write well, you don't have to dress funny.

It took a while to grow the confidence to say, 'This is who I am, take it or leave it.'

Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say.

You have to surrender to your mediocrity, and just write. Because it's hard, really hard, to write even a crappy book. But it's better to write a book that kind of sucks rather than no book at all, as you wait around to magically become Faulkner. No one is going to write your book for you and you can't write anybody's book but your own.

The key thing is, don't worry about if anyone is reading you or not. Figure out your voice and figure out what you want to write about, what you're good at, what you like doing.