Quotes by Writing I probably write a poem every 50 years. Al Pacino writingyears I do believe, and I will always believe, that Shakespeare on film is really something that should be tried more often because it is an opportunity to take the humanity that Shakespeare writes into characters and express it. Al Pacino writingcharacterbelieve I started writing when I was about thirteen. Al Purdy thirteenoutkastwriting So that's why one of my rules of parody writing is that it's gotta be funny regardless of whether you know the source material. It has to work on its own merit. Al Yankovic meritwritingfunny I write and write and write, and then I edit it down to the parts that I think are amusing, or that help the storyline, or I'll write a notebook full of ideas of anecdotes or story points, and then I'll try and arrange them in a way that they would tell a semi-cohesive story. Al Yankovic notebookwritingthinking I know now that everything I write, I'm going to put out, and I'll have to live with it for the rest of my life. Al Yankovic knowswriting I'm very analytical, I'm very precise. I mean, I don't write for kids. Al Yankovic writingmeankids Work finally begins when the fear of doing nothing exceeds the fear of doing it badly. Alain de Botton exceeddoing-nothingwriting As we write, so we build: to keep a record of what matters to us. Alain de Botton recordswhat-matterswriting My writing always came out of a very personal place, out of an attempt to stay sane. Alain de Botton sanewriting Writing isn’t a career choice. It’s self-medication that over time precipitates the madness it was meant to ward off. Alain de Botton careersselfwriting The arrogance that says analysing the relationship between reasons and causes is more important than writing a philosophy of shyness or sadness or friendship drives me nuts. I can't accept that. Alain de Botton sadnesswritingphilosophy I am conscious of trying to stretch the boundaries of non-fiction writing. It's always surprised me how little attention many non-fiction writers pay to the formal aspects of their work. Alain de Botton writingtryingattention In Britain, because I live here, I can also run into problems of envy and competition. But all this is just in a day's work for a writer. You can't put stuff out there without someone calling you a complete fool. Oh, well. Alain de Botton envywritingrunning An understandable hunger for potential clients tempts many [career counseling therapists] to overpromise, like creative writing teachers who, out of greed or sentimentality, sometimes imply that all of their students could one day produce worthwhile literature, rather than frankly acknowledging the troubling truth, anathema to a democratic society, that the great writer, like the contented worker, remains an erratic and anomalous event, immune to the methods of factory farming. Alain de Botton careerswritingteacher I was uncomfortable writing fiction. My love was the personal essay rather than the novel. Alain de Botton uncomfortablewritingfiction I know a lot about writing, but I don't know much about how other industries work. I've tried to use my naivety to my advantage. Alain de Botton naivetyusewriting It seems the only way to write a half decent book is to worry oneself sick on an hourly basis that one is producing a complete disaster. Alain de Botton sickwritingbook Being incomprehensible offers unparalleled protection against having nothing to say...but writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded by those with a tenacious belief that the impassable prose is a hallmark of intelligence. Alain de Botton simplicitybeliefwriting Writing a book has about it some of the anxiety of telling a joke and having to wait several years to know whether or not it was funny. Alain de Botton writingbookyears«1516171819202122232425»
