Quotation: Charles Caleb Colton

"Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason. They made no such demand upon those who wrote them."

Quotation: Don Marquis

"If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that's read by persons who move their lips when they're reading to themselves."

Quotation: E.B. White

"Be obscure clearly."

Quotation: Unknown English Professor

"I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top."

Quotation: Flannery O'Connor

"Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher."

Quotation: Mark Twain (or Samuel Clemens, whichever you prefer)

"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."

Quotation: Stephen King

"The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings — words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out."

Quotation: Anne Lamott

"Seeing yourself in print is such an amazing concept: you can get so much attention without having to actually show up somewhere.... You don't have to dress up, for instance, and you can't hear them boo you right away."