writers quote daily

Hart on mastery

Mastery is not some closely guarded mystery, but the step-by-step conquest of craft.--Jack Hart

Asimov on getting the most out of life

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.--Isaac Asimov

Gracian on good writing

Good things, when short, are twice as good.--Gracian

Elizabeth Drew on literature

The test of literature is, I suppose, whether we ourselves live more intensely for the reading of it.--Elizabeth Drew

Thoreau on rules

Any fool can make a rule. And every fool will mind it.--Henry David Thoreau

Wilson on simplicity in writing

The simpler you say it, the more eloquent it is.--August Wilson

Mencken on writers

There are no dull subjects. There are only dull writers.--H.L. Mencken

Welty on the use of language

The mystery lies in the use of language to express human life.--Eudora Welty

Chaucer on mastery

The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne. -- Geoffrey Chaucer

James on specificity

An ounce of example is worth a pound of generalities--Henry James