Literary Contribution Quotes

One of the people that wrote a forward to my book is Gerry Spence, whom I admire. Gerry is a friend of mine, and Gerry's perhaps the leading criminal defense attorney in the country.

Stephen King in many respects is a wonderful writer. He has made a contribution. People in the future will be able to pick up Stephen King's books and learn a lot about who we were by reading those books.

Once more I can climb about and remind you that a woman in this epoch does the important literary thinking.

Artists and writers have to understand and live the truth that what we are doing is nourishing the world.

That's one of the great things about poetry; one realises that one does one's little turn - that you're just part of the great crop, as it were.

For someone who made such an enormous contribution to American literature, Mark Twain has been the subject of many books but few major biographies.

V. S. Pritchett was one of the most admired, fun, talked-about writers of the 20th century: he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his work with prose. He was born in 1900, wrote till he died in 1997, and has been tidily forgotten ever since. This is a real shame.

I want to do something splendid… Something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead… I think I shall write books.

In the world of literature, I see prizes as more of a duty to the craft itself, rather than as something for the individual.

I like to think each writer is doing his or her part. Feeding the lake, as Jean Rhys said. And maybe there are different lakes.

I was hoping to build a country and add to its literature. That's why I served in World War II, and that's why I wrote books.

If I were to die thinking that I'd written three poems that people might read after me, I would feel that I hadn't lived in vain. Great poets might expect the whole body of their work, but most of us - well, I would settle for a handful.

If you want to be a writer, you should go into the largest library you can find and stand there contemplating the books that have been written. Then you should ask yourself, 'Do I really have anything to add?' If you have the arrogance or the humility to say yes, you will know you have the vocation.

I don't think I'm any competition to the already-existing canon of writers in Kannada. How can I ever even think of comparing myself?

My country is in ruins. So I'm a fish in a poisoned fishbowl. I'm mostly just heartsick about this. There should have been hope. This should have been a great country. But we are despised all over the world now. I was hoping to build a country and add to its literature. That's why I served in World War II, and that's why I wrote books.

I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.

Since, therefore, individuals as well as the public are so indebted to these writers for the benefits they enjoy, I think them not only entitled to the honour of palms and crowns, but even to be numbered among the gods.

I think you have an obligation to share what you know as a writer.

... as usual I am suffering much from doubt as to the worth of what I am doing and fear lest I may not be able to complete it so as to make it a contribution to literature and not a mere addition to the heap of books.

If only one in 1,000 people that I talk to goes on to write a good book, that's one more good book that I've helped along... and maybe it will be a book I love myself five or 10 years down the line.

Authors should be honored only for their works.

My confidence in the future of literature consists in the knowledge that there are things that only literature can give us, by means specific to it.

I respect Millar, sir: he has raised the price of literature.

To me, a writer is one of the most important soldiers in the fight for survival of the human race. He must stay at his post in the thick of fire to serve the cause of mankind.