Writing Well Quotes

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

As a rule, one must write a great many words before one learns to write well.

Too many writers think that all you need to do is write well-but that's only part of what a good book is. Above all, a good book tells a good story. Focus on the story first. Ask yourself, 'Will other people find this story so interesting that they will tell others about it?' Remember: A bestselling book usually follows a simple rule, 'It's a wonderful story, wonderfully told'; not, 'It's a wonderfully told story.'

We live in a moment and a culture when reading is really endangered. There's simply no way to write well, though, if you're not reading well.

I don't read a lot of inspirational books for life. But for writing, I think the two best books are The War of Art and William Zinsser's On Writing Well. I read a lot of classics.

He that will write well in any tongue must follow this counsel of Aristotle: to speak as the common people do, to think as wise men do.

When you want to write well, wake up at 5 A.M.

By writing much, one learns to write well.

I don't think you can write - at least not well - if you don't love stories, love the written word.

And when I'm writing well and when I'm inside the feeling, then I can do fairly complicated things with some fluency.

Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.

Sound judgment is the ground of writing well.

He who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable things ought himself to be a true poem.

Everything can be going well, but if I'm not writing, I'm not happy. When I'm writing well, I'm like a different person.

I've always had standards about writing well. There is art in this business. There is potentially great art.