Nothing gives an author so much pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors.

Nothing gives an author so much pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors.

Every compulsion is put upon writers to become safe, polite, obedient, and sterile.

Every compulsion is put upon writers to become safe, polite, obedient, and sterile.

Writers seldom write the things they think. They simply write the things they think other folks think they think.

Writers seldom write the things they think. They simply write the things they think other folks think they think.

A serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or read more

A serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl.

If you write, one of the questions you're always trying to answer is, Where do you get your ideas? And, read more

If you write, one of the questions you're always trying to answer is, Where do you get your ideas? And, if you write, you know how pointless a question this is and how difficult it is to answer.

My occupation is solely that of a painter.
No one can argue with pictures
(re descriptions in Uncle Tom's Cabin).

My occupation is solely that of a painter.
No one can argue with pictures
(re descriptions in Uncle Tom's Cabin).

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original, and the part that read more

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.

You become a good writer just as you become a good joiner: by planing down your sentences.

You become a good writer just as you become a good joiner: by planing down your sentences.