84 Author Quotes

In the vast world of literature, authors have a unique ability to capture the essence of the human experience through their words. Whether wrapped in the pages of a novel, a poem, or a piece of non-fiction, their insights often resonate deeply with readers. In this blog post, we've curated a collection of the top 84 author quotes that span the gamut of emotions, philosophies, and wisdoms. These quotes are not just sentences; they are reflections of the minds behind some of the most influential works ever written. Prepare to be inspired, moved, and perhaps challenged as you delve into the words of literary greats.

1. “The good, the admirable reader identifies himself not with the boy or the girl in the book, but with the mind that conceived and composed that book.” - Vladimir Nabokov

2. “I felt after I finished Slaughterhouse-Five that I didn’t have to write at all anymore if I didn’t want to. It was the end of some sort of career. I don’t know why, exactly. I suppose that flowers, when they’re through blooming, have some sort of awareness of some purpose having been served. Flowers didn’t ask to be flowers and I didn’t ask to be me. At the end of Slaughterhouse-Five…I had a shutting-off feeling…that I had done what I was supposed to do and everything was OK .” - Kurt Vonnegut

3. “There is something fascinatingly awkward about an author photo. I'm drawn to those glossy shots in the back of books, mostly because the subjects never look happy to be there.” - Pamela Ribon

4. “Humanity was a passing notion to him; something he liked to try on for size and model in the dressing room, but never actually felt compelled to buy.” - Jane Bled

5. “My author role model is Kurata Misako. I want to be rich enough to drive from room to room in my home but also down to earth enough to let squirrels live in my hair.” - Christy Leigh Stewart

6. “We have all been empowered by the web: everyone with a keyboard can now effectively broadcast to a national audience. In a sense, it puts each of us on the same footing as the major media conglomerates, except for AOL, who now apparently own all our thoughts and teeth.” - John Hodgman

7. “But writers experience the world and themselves in a unique way. We look for meaning. We see it even when we are not paying attention, which is seldom because, as writers, paying attention is what we do. We are scribes to the ticking of the days, and we have a job to do. We are not at peace unless we are doing it.” - Larry Brooks

8. “You can't become a star just by watching one on TV. Dream big and go for your goals!” - Koltn Burbank

9. “To be a writer is to embrace rejection as a way of life.” - Dana Stabenow

10. “You should listen to even the smallest voice, someday it could be the one that makes a difference.” - Crystal Marcos

11. “If you wait to live you will never succeed. Living begins today and it begins within you.” - Asa Don Brown

12. “You've got to be smart enough to write and stupid enough not to think about all the things that might go wrong.” - Sarah Gilbert

13. “AuthorZoom- You do the writing, let us do the rest.” - Christopher Seufert

14. “When people have a hard task to do - one which stretches them - they become less concerned with trivial matters.” - Idris SHah

15. “Where Norman Rockwell is the Artist for the man on the street, O'Henry is his author.” - Sonia Rumzi

16. “Write what you know best. If you can't survive a cross-examination from a lawyer on the subject, you won't survive an interview with a journalist or anchorperson." Linda Radke, President of Five Star Publications.” - Linda F. Radke

17. “Even the most beautifully written, perfectly edited and well-designed books will fail if people aren't made aware of them!" ––Linda Radke, President of Five Star Publications, on the importance of public relations and marketing.” - Linda F. Radke

18. “May my heart be kind, my mind fierce, and my spirit brave.” - Kate Forsyth

19. “I'll write'em if you'll read'em” - Robert Lee Thompson

20. “Most people keep their dreams to themselves, afraid to follow their hearts. Writers make their dreams a reality with each word, each line that flows from their pen.” - CK Webb

21. “Let your words be your voice. And let your voice be heard within the hearts of others.” - Anasia Nicole Hixon

22. “I'm the first to admit that I don't write right. Now, relax and enjoy the show! The sideshow, that is.” - Lori R. Lopez

23. “There is no greater feeling of accomplishment than to create a world that solely exists in your imagination and be able to pull someone into this hidden place inside of my thoughts. To make someone care for a person that has manifested from my dreams, to make them hate me for putting them in danger, and for them to ask to be taken on another journey with me when it is all said and done is why I write.” - Teresa Mummert

24. “It would be better not to know so many things than to know so many things that are not so.” - Felix Okoye

25. “Now may this little Book a blessing beTo those that love this little Book, and me:And may its Buyer have no cause to say,His money is but lost, or thrown away.” - John Bunyan

26. “When I die I hope it may be said:'Her suffering was black, but her books were read'.” - Shannon Alder

27. “Trying to live up to yourself is the most trying thing.” - Ren Garcia

28. “I believe that a writer is a person who writes. An author is a person who has written.” - Dean Wesley Smith

29. “Cowardice is the most terrible of vices.” - Mikhail Bulgakov

30. “I'm not trying to please anyone. I'm just trying to write a damn book.” - Richard Denney

31. “This is for everyone who has ever looked at the stars, or gazed from atop a hill, or across the sea and wondered...” - Tim Perkins

32. “Be good, or good at it.” - Belo Cipriani

33. “A critic is a legless man who teaches other people to run” - Channing Pollock

34. “What are the messages that you are entertaining?” - Asa Don Brown

35. “A writer's age at the time of a work's composition is never irrelevant.” - Margaret Atwood

36. “I’m 100% certain of the quality of story I’m writing until I finish the outline and actually begin to write. At this point, I’m 100% certain the story sucks and I will never show it to another living soul. Until I type “THE END.” At this point, I’m 50% certain it sucks, 50% certain it’s brilliant, and 100% certain if I don’t show it to someone I will spontaneously combust.” - Renee Miller

37. “In the shower today I tried to think about the best advice I'd ever been given by another writer. There was something that someone said at my first Milford, about using style as a covering, but sooner or later you would have to walk naked down the street, that was useful...And then I remembered. It was Harlan Ellison about a decade ago.He said, "Hey. Gaiman. What's with the stubble? Every time I see you, you're stubbly. What is it? Some kind of English fashion statement?""Not really.""Well? Don't they have razors in England for Chrissakes?""If you must know, I don't like shaving because I have a really tough beard and sensitive skin. So by the time I've finished shaving I've usually scraped my face a bit. So I do it as little as possible.""Oh." He paused. "I've got that too. What you do is, you rub your stubble with hair conditioner. Leave it a couple of minutes, then wash it off. Then shave normally. Makes it really easy to shave. No scraping."I tried it. It works like a charm. Best advice from a writer I've ever received.” - Neil Gaiman

38. “The first step to Happiness is deciding exactly what kind of life you want. That kinda comes from experience.” - I.B. Opene

39. “The first thing I ever learned in roller derby is to fall, and in the author world I believe that same rule applies.” - Elizabeth J. Kolodziej

40. “On having a backup plan: "Always a good plan anytime you want to follow your dream - I love writing, acting, and psychiatry - there are crazy people everywhere which means I can take my career anywhere my dream needs to go.” - Samantha Steele

41. “...I happen to be the kind of author who in starting to work on a book has no purpose than to get rid of that book....” - Vladimir Nabokov

42. “Time is a funny thing, it can give and it can take away; and a single moment in time can truly change one’s life forever! The best kind of love is unexpected, unexplainable, undeniable, and unimaginable.Your sweet scent will forever be with me, reminding me of the love we once shared. I will breathe in the memories until we meet again.Before you act on what you have been told, consider your source. It may simply be assumption on their part, and that can be far from fact.Why stand back and wait for someone to fail when you can stand up and offer your support?Love is when the sound of your partner’s snoring lulls you to sleep, and it acts as a reminder that they are there by your side.Building a wall around your heart is a voluntary imprisonment to which only you have the key. Open your heart to life’s possibilities!” - Donna L. Jones

43. “Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people. They often reveal much about themselves in a very straightforward way. I am certain that I did. There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.” - Akira Kurosawa

44. “There is no good or bad author; there is only one kind of an author, that who connects with the readers.” - Saru Singhal

45. “The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning.” - Anne Tyler

46. “You know you're a writer when the words don't stop!” - Joyce Middleton

47. “The gold of life is for those bold and brave in life.” - Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

48. “Ending a series is a difficult one .......where should a story that you have followed for so long end? When do you step away from the characters and let the readers decide their fate from there? When they can stand on their own is my only answer for that.” - Shandy L. Kurth

49. “They fought because they loved the dance, and the weight of a sword in their hands. The clash and spark of metal and hiss of flame was like music written just for them. They fought for glory, but not for blood. They were Weirlind, heirs of the warrior's stone. And they always slept better with blades beneath their beds.” - The Warrior Heir Cinda Williams Chima pg. 426

50. “I am more optimistic, both about reading and about books. There will always be non-readers, bad readers, lazy readers – there always were. Reading is a majority skill but a minority art. Yet nothing can replace the exact, complicated, subtle communion between absent author and entranced, present reader.” - Julian Barnes

51. “I like to read and write because it is the ONLY thing that takes my mind off of the real world and my spinning worries. It is a time I can be free of anxiety, worry, and stress. When my life gets hectic I HAVE to read and write or I'll drown.” - Shandy L. Kurth

52. “I look forward to seeing more of this author's writings. Linda Strong” - Vicki M. Taylor

53. “In the Presence of Love...there are Miracles...Live Love, Give Love and Miracle will follow Miracle and wonders will never cease.” - Deborah Brooks

54. “Art is a captured emotion. When I say this I mean all artists, whether you are a photographer, a writer, or sculptor, you are trying to capture the way someone or something made you feel. As a story teller I am trying to captivate the audience and allow them to feel just a small portion of the emotion I am desperately trying to preserve.” - Tommy Tran

55. “A daydreamer is a writer just waiting for pen and paper.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

56. “Artistry exists in everyone. What makes it blossom is a soul's personal desire to find an outlet for expression.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

57. “The unification of worlds is an author's priority, as one of them surely resides forbidden to the public.” - Paul Andreas Wunderlich

58. “When I finally find that one willing agent, I'll have found my prize in the Cracker Jack box.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

59. “To fight discouragement, remind yourself of the basics: I can write.I have the opportunity to do so. I love what I write. Now smile and be thankful.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

60. “Poetry is no rocket science, a good poet writes from his heart!” - Saru Singhal

61. “I love when I finish reading a chapter that I wrote and my cheeks hurt from smiling and all I can utter is, 'Wow.'” - Richelle E. Goodrich

62. “Psalm 37:44 Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” - LaNina King

63. “An author is like an incompetent bricklayer - doesn't use mortar and keeps rearranging the bricks until someone tells him to stop.” - Chris Everheart

64. “The heart is a place with worm holes made by feelings you aren't supposed to have but do.” - Elizabeth Scott

65. “When I sit down to write I actually ask myself, 'Who do you want to be today?'” - Richelle E. Goodrich

66. “I wish life were a fiction novel. Then everyone would have to do what I say.” - Michelle M. Pillow

67. “Confession: I don't want to be one of my characters. I'm mean to them sometimes. Really mean.” - Michelle M. Pillow

68. “The web is a dangerous place for a mind begging to slack off and be distracted by nonsense.” - Michelle M. Pillow

69. “Advice from a Romance Writer: Guys, make your woman feel pretty even on an 'off' day. Trust me, good things will come of it.” - Michelle M. Pillow

70. “Someone described a writer's world as tormented, and I had to laugh.  A tormented writer?  I personally wouldn't have put those two words together.  Emotions have the power to torment a soul, yes, I agree to that.  But writers, through the formation of our characters, delve so often into the depths of a vast range of emotions that we earn the advantage.  For we've examined every little thrumming, fracture, spark, pang, and darkening of the heart to a point that we understand and appreciate the necessity and strength of emotions as well as the cause and effects manipulating them.  We understand.  We can imagine.  We sympathize.  Our knowledge is power over the torment of emotional ignorance.  I would suggest that those truly tormented are the readers of our works because those poor souls shall never know with such clarity and sentiment all the tiny little details that make our characters breath, move, and live before our very eyes.  Perhaps, if torment does lurk among writers, it comes simply through knowing more about an imagined friend than can ever be adequately expressed in words.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

71. “Creative writing is your ability to develop your inner tension, your libido, your supply of energy and electric charge, turning the charge into an image or thought, and wording the thought, thus contributing all the activity of your mind to the immortal culture of humankind and subsequently to your own immortality.” - Lara Biyuts

72. “If you cannot judge a book by its cover, surely we should not judge an author by one book alone?” - E.A. Bucchianeri

73. “I heart my job. I get to make things up for a living.” - Michelle M. Pillow

74. “Preserve your own mystery. We live in an age of social media and what seems like extreme sharing of personal details. I would beg to differ that these revelations are not honest truths but more self-branding. Whatever the case, save a little bit, or a lot, for yourself. If you run around naked all the time, when the storm hits, you’ll have no raincoat.” - Susan Kirschbaum

75. “A well-developed and versed character will write the story for you.” - A.R. Voss

76. “Do not compare yourself with anybody. Compare yourself with yourself, for yourself and by yourself. We are all uniquely pottered and purposed by our creator!” - Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

77. “It is an awesome tragedy in this life that, when asking what a person is and they reply doctor or lawyer or engineer, we don't say "Well thats a nice little hobby, but why don't you take up writing or painting or music?” - D.A. Botta

78. “Write the ending first and then you'll know before the opening sentence that it's going to be a good book.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

79. “Like any author worth a shit - she parted with a piece of her soul.” - CJ Roberts

80. “The obsession with correct political belief and expression in art is stultifying the genre as it is necessarily exclusive. We are losing our voice in artificial, forced homogeny posing as tolerance. Propaganda-disguised-as-story drives readers away as agenda takes the place of wonder, excitement, character. and conflict.” - Scott M. Roberts

81. “Sometimes I still feel that there are two of me: one clean, flawless picture, the other imperfect and cracked; one boy, one girl; one voice that speaks aloud and one that whispers in my ear; one publicly known to have been troubled but be on the mend, the other who has privately lost something to do with innocence and gained something to do with knowledge and adulthood that can never be undone. I feel sometimes there are things that tear me in two directions, that there are two sets of thoughts that grow side by side. But then I realize that I am whole, whatever that means and does not mean; I am complete without the need for additions or alteration.” - Abigail Tarttelin

82. “Finally... I'm here...” - K. Hari Kumar

83. “See it, learn it, do it ALL.” - Jamie McCall

84. “Inspirations are priceless & limitless.” - Jay Danzie