ism [ízzəm]

(plural isms)

noun

system of belief: a movement, doctrine, or system of belief (informal)

[Late 17th century. < -ism]

.

Below is a collection of quotations from famous and not so famous people whose words might inspire, enlighten, humor and even shame you. For what reason I collated them, I do not know. I shall let the words speak for themselves.

A great writer creates a world of his own and his readers are proud to live in it. A lesser writer may entice them in for a moment, but soon he will watch them filing out.

• Cyril Connolly (1903 - 1974) British writer and journalist

Your first book is the only one that matters. Perhaps a writer should write only that one. That is the one moment when you make the big leap; the opportunity to express yourself is offered that once, and you untie the knot within you then or never again.

• Italo Calvino (1923 - 1985) Cuban-born Italian novelist and short-story writer

A writer is a writer, and writing is sexless.

• Buchi Emecheta (1944 - ) Nigerian novelist and publisher

A well-written Life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.

• Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881) Scottish historian and essayist

Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.

• E. M. Forster (1879 - 1970) British novelist

All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.

• F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940) U.S. writer

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than write for the public and have no self.

• Cyril Connolly (1903 - 1974) British writer and journalist

I cannot write as well as some people; my talent is in coming up with good stories about lawyers. That is what I am good at.

• John Grisham (1955 - ) U.S. writer

It is not real work unless you would rather be doing something else.

• J. M. Barrie (1860 - 1937) British playwright and novelist

Learn to write well, or not to write at all.

• John Sheffield (1648 - 1721) English poet and statesman

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.

• Robert Frost (1874 - 1963) U.S poet

One must write and

rewrite till one writes it right.

• A. R. Ammons (1926 - 2001) US poet

One reason for writing, of course, is that no-one's written what you want to read.

• Philip Larkin (1922 - 1985) British poet

Praise and blame are much the same for the writer. One is better for your vanity, but neither gets you much further with your work.

• Jeanette Winterson (1959 - ) British novelist

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

• Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) English philosopher, statesman, and lawyer

The point of good writing is knowing when to stop.

• L. M. Montgomery (1874 - 1942) Canadian writer

When men write for profit, they are not very delicate.

• Horace Walpole (1717 - 1797) British writer

Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.

• Jules Renard (1864 - 1910) French writer

Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite:

'Fool!' said my Muse to me; 'look in thy heart and write.'

• Philip Sidney (1554 - 1586) English poet, courtier, and soldier

I imagine this midnight moment's forest:

Something else is alive

Beside the clock's loneliness

And this blank page where my fingers move.

• Ted Hughes (1930 - 1998) British writer, poet

I say to her: 'Did you dictate to Dante

The pages of the Inferno?' She answers: 'It was I.'

• Anna Akhmatova (1888 - 1966) Russian poet

I don't mind your thinking slowly: I mind your publishing faster than you think.

• Attributed to Wolfgang Pauli (1900 - 1958) Austrian-born U.S. physicist

I'll publish, right or wrong:

Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.

• Lord Byron (1788 - 1824) British poet

Let it be kept till the ninth year, the manuscript put away at home: you may destroy whatever you haven't published; once out, what you've said can't be stopped.

• Horace (65 - 8 BC) Roman poet

The dog barks but the caravan passes on.

• Mohamed al-Fayed (1933 - ) Egyptian businessman

The pot calls the kettle black.

• Miguel de Cervantes (1547 - 1616) Spanish novelist and dramatist

Abuse is often of service. There is nothing so dangerous to an author as silence.

• Attributed to Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784) British lexicographer and writer

But whether thus submissively or not, at least be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours.

• John Ruskin (1819 - 1900) British art critic, writer, and reformer

A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

• Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784) British lexicographer and writer

A little like a quiet explosion in your head.

• Maurice Sendak (1928 - ) U.S. writer and illustrator

Against the disease of writing one must take special precautions, since it is a dangerous and contagious disease.

• Peter Abelard (1079 - 1142?) French theologian and philosopher

Many suffer from the incurable disease of writing, and it becomes chronic in their sick minds.

• Juvenal (65? - 128?) Roman poet

Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear which is inherent in the human situation.

• Graham Greene (1904 - 1991) British novelist

A losing trade, I assure you, sir: literature is a drug.

• George Henry Borrow (1803 - 1881) British writer and traveler

I am convinced more and more day by day that fine writing is next to fine doing, the top thing in the world.

• John Keats (1795 - 1821) English poet

I wasn't born until I started to write.

• David Hare (1947 - ) British playwright

Writing eases my suffering. When you use words, you're able to keep your mind alive. Writing is my way of reaffirming my own

existence.

• Gao Xingjian (1940 - ) Chinese-born artist and writer, October 1, 2000