Writerly Quotes - Pt 4

Thanks for stopping by again today.  I've been lax finding guest posters lately, so here we are with the quotes again.  I hope you enjoy these....

The novel is not “a crazy quilt of bits”; it is a logical sequence of psychological events: the movements of stars may seem crazy to the simpleton, but wise men know the comets come back. - Vladimir Nabokov

The reader has certain rights. He bought your story. Think of this as an implicit contract. He's entitled to be entertained, instructed, amused; maybe all three. If he quits in the middle, or puts the book down feeling his time has been wasted, you're in violation. - Larry Niven

We work and write and wait for the big moment to happen. If it happens. In the meantime, we dream of pool boys. - Allison Pang

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance. - Alexander Pope

There's no such thing as writer's block. That was invented by people in California who couldn't write. - Terry Pratchett

Most writers enjoy two periods of happiness—when a glorious idea comes to mind and, secondly, when a last page has been written and you haven’t had time to know how much better it ought to be. - J.B. Priestley

A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return. - Salman Rushdie

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury; signifying nothing. - William Shakespeare

I'd rather be caught holding up a bank than stealing so much as a two-word phrase from another writer. - Jack Smith

If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes. - Mickey Spillane

The first chapter sells the book. The last chapter sells the next book. - Mickey Spillane

The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business. - John Steinbeck

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. - William Strunk, Jr.

And that's it for today.  Next time I have to do this, should be the T-Z section and therefore, the end.  Then I'll have to find something else to put up here when I've been lazy. 

Got any quotes you'd like to add?