Novelists Quotes

• I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you - it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.

  Philip Roth

  World, Easier, Discretion

  FaceBook post by Philip Roth from Jul 07, 2011

  55 Copy quote

  Show source

• The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets.

  Christopher Morley

  Healing, Cycling, Cyclists

  Christopher Morley (1935). “Morley's Magnum”

  42 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm working to improve my methods, and every hour I save is an hour added to my life.

  Ayn Rand

  Life, Time, Effectiveness

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.551, Hamilton Books

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• A petty reason perhaps why novelists more and more try to keep a distance from journalists is that novelists are trying to write the truth and journalists are trying to write fiction.

  Graham Greene

  Fake People, Distance, Writing

  Graham Greene (1993). “Mornings in the dark: the Graham Greene film reader”, Carcanet Press Ltd.

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different.

  C. S. Lewis

  Inspirational, Life, Change

  306 Copy quote

• Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really.

  Agnes Sligh Turnbull

  Life, Dog, Pet

  79 Copy quote

• It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all.

  Will Shetterly

  Book, Writing, Firsts

  16 Copy quote

• If these United States can be called a body, then Kentucky can be called its heart.

  Jesse Stuart

  Teacher, Heart, Kentucky

  68 Copy quote

• We shall kill. If you have not killed at least one German a day, you have wasted that day... Do not count days; do not count miles. Count only the number of Germans you have killed.

  Ilya Ehrenburg

  War, Pride, Army

  56 Copy quote

• Life is only limited by our prejudices. Destroy them, and you cease to be at the mercy of yourself.

  Mina Loy

  Life, Motivational, Change

  Mina Loy (2015). “The Lost Lunar Baedeker: Poems of Mina Loy”, p.150, Macmillan

  57 Copy quote

  Show source

• Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams.

  Murasaki Shikibu

  Dream, Real, Dark

  Lady Murasaki, Murasaki Shikibu, Arthur Waley (2000). “The Tale of Genji”, p.5, Courier Corporation

  61 Copy quote

  Show source

• No one can be as calculatedly rude as the British, which amazes Americans, who do not understand studied insult and can only offer abuse as a substitute.

  Paul Gallico

  Inspirational, Rude, Insulting

  The New York Times, January 14, 1962.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.

  Patrick Rothfuss

  Time, Pain, Blow

  122 Copy quote

• Never underestimate the Pricey.

  Katie Price

  Self Love, Singers, Underestimate

  Katie Price (2008). “Jordan: Pushed to the Limit”, p.280, Random House

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality.

  Robert M. Pirsig

  Inspirational, Memories, Future

  105 Copy quote

• Writing is a miracle. You can travel anywhere in the world, to any time and any place — and still be home in time to have dinner.

  Mary Pope Osborne

  Time, Travel, Home

  Twitter post from Jan 28, 2018

  52 Copy quote

  Show source

• History repeats itself.

  George Eliot

  Wise, Wisdom, History

  22 Copy quote

• Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect when taken in too large quantities.

  Lord Dunsany

  Taken, Math, Statistics

  "My Ireland". Book by Lord Dunsany (Chapter XIX: Weeds and Moss), 1937.

  62 Copy quote

  Show source

• Ask yourself why totalitarian dictatorships find it necessary to pour money and effort into propaganda for their own helpless, chained, gagged slaves, who have no means of protest or defense. The answer is that even the humblest peasant or the lowest savage would rise in blind rebellion, were he to realize that he is being immolated, not to some incomprehensible noble purpose, but to plain, naked human evil.

  Ayn Rand

  Mean, Tyrants, Evil

  Ayn Rand (1999). “Ayn Rand Reader”, p.136, Penguin

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is morally obscene to regard wealth as an anonymous, tribal product and to talk about 'redistributing' it.

  Ayn Rand

  Money, Famous Women, Wealth

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.27, Penguin

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Truth is the recognition of reality; reason, man's only means of knowledge, is his only standard of truth.

  Ayn Rand

  Truth, Knowledge, Mean

  Ayn Rand (1999). “Ayn Rand Reader”, p.260, Penguin

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• To fear to face an issue is to believe that the worst is true.

  Ayn Rand

  Fear, Believe, Issues

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.808, Hamilton Books

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• All life is a purposeful struggle, and your only choice is the choice of a goal.

  Ayn Rand

  Inspirational, Life, Struggle

  Ayn Rand (1963). “For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)”, p.155, Penguin

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• When you force a man to act against his own choice and judgment, it's his thinking that you want him to suspend.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Thinking, People

  Ayn Rand (2011). “Ayn Rand Novel Collection”, p.2313, Penguin

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: “Merry Christmas”-not “Weep and Repent.” And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form-by giving presents to one's friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance . . . .

  Ayn Rand

  Happiness, Happy, Friends

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.91, Penguin

  8 Copy quote

  Show source