Literature Quotes

"The real writer has given up all claim to respectability."

"Bad writing is the reason that good readers read no fiction."

"The novelist is reporting on the human condition."

"The grotesque is the way a writer comes to grips with the moral realities of his culture."

"The writer has to make the reader believe in the impossible."

"A story works because it respects the truth of human nature."

"The mystery in fiction is the mystery in life."

"The writer's task is to deepen the reader's moral sense."

"The writer's eye is the writer's heart."

"The real dramatic force of a book is not always apparent at first."

"A narrative is like a river—it must flow with purpose and direction."

"The myths of the world are its only enduring truths."

"Everything that goes into a book must serve some purpose."

"Writing is the only way I know to be completely honest."

"Literature is one of the few places left where authentic human experience exists."

"I wanted to put some of the spirit of what Atticus did into a book."

"A writer's responsibility is to tell the truth."

"Stories have the power to change how we see the world."

"The task of the novelist is to make you understand the world, not to make you comfortable in it."

"The purpose of the novelist is to get at the truth of human experience."

"Writing is the invention of truth; an author must make the reader believe."

"Some part of a writer never leaves his characters; he has to care about them."

"To be a writer, one must be willing to be misunderstood."

"The writer's task is to tell the truth in new ways."

"I'm writing a book about my life."

"Literature is the voice of the human experience."

"The words we speak shape the world. Choose them carefully."

"I think the purpose of literature is to give people permission to think the unthinkable."

"Literature takes a habit of mind that has disappeared."

"The writer's task is to make life meaningful without lying."