Inspirational Quotes on Writing – From Authors You Love

Quotes on Writing to Get You Back on Track

We all need a little something extra to get us back in the writing game from time to time. Check out this list of inspirational quotes on writing any time you need a little pick me up.

Remember, these artists were once just like you. Nobody starts out on top. With hard work, perseverance, and some lucky breaks, you just might be able to join them as an author remembered throughout the ages.

• “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” –Maya Angelou
• “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” – Stephen King
• “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” – Anaïs Nin
• “There are no laws for the novel. There never have been, nor can there ever be.” – Doris Lessing
• “I don’t need an alarm clock. My ideas wake me.” – Ray Bradbury, WD
• “Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.” – Ray Bradbury, WD
• “Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.” – Ray Bradbury, WD
• “Remember: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.” – Ray Bradbury, WD

• “It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.” – Ernest Hemingway
• “Writers are desperate people and when they stop being desperate they stop being writers.” – Charles Bukowski
• “Writing is something that you don’t know how to do. You sit down and it’s something that happens, or it may not happen. So, how can you teach anybody how to write? It’s beyond me, because you yourself don’t even know if you’re going to be able to. I’m always worried, well, you know, every time I go upstairs with my wine bottle. Sometimes I’ll sit at that typewriter for fifteen minutes, you know. I don’t go up there to write. The typewriter’s up there. If it doesn’t start moving, I say, well this could be the night that I hit the dust.” – Charles Bukowski
• “Writing about a writer’s block is better than not writing at all.” – Charles Bukowski
• “Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk – away from any open flames – to remind yourself that if you don’t write daily, you will get rusty.” – George Singleton
• “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” – Mark Twain
• “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” – Anne Frank

• “I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
• “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” – Madeleine L’Engle
• “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” – Ernest Hemingway
• “A writer is a world trapped in a person.” – Victor Hugo
• “You can make anything by writing.” – C.S. Lewis
• “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” – Elmore Leonard

This is an ongoing project to collect inspirational quotes on writing. InkWell Spills needs your help! Please comment below with your favorite quotes.

The list will be updated regularly to help inspire your writing journey. So check back often! Want more writing inspiration? Start here. You can also connect with me and tons of other writers over on Twitter. Become part of a massive writing community that supports, inspires, and encourages the beautiful craft of writing.