A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket. ~ Charles Péguy
"Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants, and futurologists. It is not the business of novelists. A novelist's business is lying." - Ursula K. Le Guin, from the foreword to The Left Hand of Darkness
The most important thing in writing is to have written. I can always fix a bad page. I can’t fix a blank one. - Nora Roberts
"A writer spends the first part of his or her career hoping to be discovered; the rest hoping not to be found out." -Mick Herron (dunno if he's a great writer, but this is a great quote about writing, sooo...)
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
The Iranian writer Dr. Shariati He died about 48 years ago. His biography is here, though I have not studied it in English and can't confirm all its contents. I also am not his follower because he had some personal beliefs that are not according to my original belief. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Shariati The heart that is not in love with anyone and needs love, takes the person anywhere following his missing one. God, freedom, art, and friend are waiting for him in his way. And he will fill that empty jug with which one?! In the period of ignorance, consciousness is a crime! Don’t wait for a bird to come and fly you, try to be a bird yourself! Love is the enjoyment of looking for your beloved! Freedom starts from your mind. There are many humans their hands and legs are not in a chain but imprisoned by their thoughts! When somebody is poor his goodness is not seen either, but the one who has gold and power, his failures are seen like art, and his junk words seem logical! Being human, responsible, clean, and thinking about the fates of others should be a duty. I never learned something from who was agree with me! I don’t want to know what will happen after my death and the potter what will make from my body, but I am very wishful after my death, the potter makes a whistle from my throat and gives it to a playful kid, and the kid blows the whistle nonstop with his warm breath and wakes up those who are asleep and thus breaks up the heavy silence! Up to the time we live we must live awake, because we will sleep later for many years compulsorily! A human is human as much as he thinks and as much as he creates, not as much as he eats other creatures! Be what you wish to be, but only be human! Love to one who is not worthy of love is wasting love! When I see no difficulty is on my way, I realize I’m going wrong! O God, make my heart so clean that before I take down my hands you approve my prayer. If you could not understand, you can be happy!! Love is not that you both get wet under the rain, love is that you get wet and your beloved not, and she never realizes why she didn’t get wet! I will never pollute my faith and love with wishing for life!
“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.” ― John Steinbeck, East of Eden
"Try to preserve an author's style, if he is an author and has a style." Wolcott Gibbs, advising New Yorker editors about their job.
