William Goldman Quotes

Quotes about:

Adventure Books Doubt Emotions Eyes Fathers Giving

A good writer is not someone who knows how to write- but how to rewrite

William Goldman

Writing, Know How, Good Writers

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Writing is finally about one thing: going into a room alone and doing it. Putting words on paper that have never been there in quite that way before. And although you are physically by yourself, the haunting Demon never leaves you, that Demon being the knowledge of your own terrible limitations, your hopeless inadequacy, the impossibility of ever getting it right. No matter how diamond-bright your ideas are dancing in your brain, on paper they are earthbound.

William Goldman

Writing, Ideas, Dancing

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Nobody knows anything...... Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.

William Goldman

Fields, Lucky, Motion Pictures

William Goldman (2012). “Adventures in the Screen Trade”, p.32, Hachette UK

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One of the easiest things in the world is not to write... If it were easy, everyone would do it.

William Goldman

Writing, World, Easy

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Her heart was a secret garden and the walls were very high.

William Goldman

Wall, Princess, Heart

William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride: An Illustrated Edition of S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure”, p.185, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Life is difficult.
Anyone who says different is
trying to sell you something.

William Goldman

Trying, Different, Life Is

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I don't guess. I think. I ponder. I deduce. Then I decide. But I never guess.

William Goldman

Thinking, Pondering

William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride”, p.114, A&C Black

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Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches.

William Goldman

Love, Beach, Soulmate

William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride”, p.47, A&C Black

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It’s an accepted fact that all writers are crazy, even the normal ones are weird.

William Goldman

Crazy, Facts, Normal

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If all that's going on in your scenes is what's going on in your scenes, think about it a long time.

William Goldman

Thinking, Long, Scene

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Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all.

William Goldman

Life, Sad, Death

William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride: An Illustrated Edition of S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure”, p.364, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches! If your love were-" "I don't understand that first one yet," Buttercup interrupted. She was starting to get very excited now. "Let me get this straight. Are you saying my love is a grain of sand and yours is this other thing? Images confuse me so - is this universal business of yours bigger than my sand? Help me, Westley. I have the feeling we're on the verge of something just terribly important.

William Goldman

Beach, Love You, Love Is

William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride”, p.47, A&C Black

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My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!

William Goldman

Movie, Revenge, Father

William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride: An Illustrated Edition of S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure”, p.351, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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You have to protect your writing time. You have to protect it to the death.

William Goldman

Writing, Protect

William Goldman (2013). “Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade”, p.588, Vintage

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"We’ll never survive!” “Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has."

William Goldman

Optimistic, Optimism, Doubt

"The Princess Bride". Book by William Goldman, 1973.

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True love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops.

William Goldman

True Love, Sweet Love, Healing

William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride: An Illustrated Edition of S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure”, p.319, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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I’ll tell you the truth and its up to you to live with it.

William Goldman

Up To You

William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride: An Illustrated Edition of S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure”, p.137, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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I write out of revenge.

William Goldman

Revenge, Writing

William Goldman (2013). “Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade”, p.206, Vintage

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Cynics are simply thwarted romantics.

William Goldman

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When I was your age, television was called books.

William Goldman

Book, Age, Television

William Goldman (1995). “William Goldman: Four Screenplays with Essays”, Hal Leonard Corporation

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Who says life is fair, where is that written?

William Goldman

Life Is, Princess Bride, Princes Bride

William Goldman (1995). “William Goldman: Four Screenplays with Essays”, Hal Leonard Corporation

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But when a girl gives a boy a dead squid - that had to mean something.

William Goldman

Girl, Mean, Boys

William Goldman (2001). “The Silent Gondoliers”, Del Rey

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No more rhymes now I mean it!” “Anybody want a peanut?” “AAHH!

William Goldman

Mean, Want, Peanuts

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He held up a book then. “I'm going to read it to you for relax.” “Does it have any sports in it?” “Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True Love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest Ladies. Snakes. Spiders... Pain. Death. Brave men. Cowardly men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.” “Sounds okay,” I said and I kind of closed my eyes.

William Goldman

Sports, Pain, Revenge

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Anything there is that I can do for you, I will do for you; anything there is that I cannot do, I will learn to do.

William Goldman

Can Do, I Can

William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride”, p.44, A&C Black

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Born: August 12, 1931
Occupation: Novelist
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