200+ Quotes & Sayings By Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been translated into 37 languages, and he has published 47 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, which he used to write about a semi-retired police detective character. His notable works include Carrie, The Stand, The Shining, Pet Sematary and Misery. King has published 14 novels since 1999 and one collection of stories in 2012 Read more

He has written approximately 50 short stories and has written over 200 articles. He has also written non-fiction works such as On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, a non-fiction book about his writing career titled On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and a non-fiction book about his experiences with depression, titled On Writing: A Memoir of the Dark. As a successful novelist, he has been dubbed "a literary machine," having produced a new book every year since 1989.

1
Calling it a simple schoolgirl crush was like saying a Rolls-Royce was a vehicle with four wheels, something like a hay-wagon. She did not giggle wildly and blush when she saw him, nor did she chalk his name on trees or write it on the walls of the Kissing Bridge. She simply lived with his face in her heart all the time, a kind of sweet, hurtful ache. She would have died for him.. Stephen King
2
Do any of us, except in our dreams, truly expect to be reunited with our hearts' deepest loves, even when they leave us only for minutes, and on the most mundane of errands? No, not at all. Each time they go from our sight we in our secret hearts count them as dead. Having been given so much, we reason, how could we expect not to be brought as low as Lucifer for the staggering presumption of our love? . Stephen King
3
Love is what moves the world, I've always thought...it is the only thing which allows men and women to stand in a world where gravity always seems to want to pull them down...bring them low...and make them crawl... Stephen King
For men, I think, love is a thing formed of...
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For men, I think, love is a thing formed of equal parts lust and astonishment. The astonishment part women understand. The lust part they only think they understand. Stephen King
If it's ka it'll come like a wind, and your...
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If it's ka it'll come like a wind, and your plans will stand before it no more than a barn before a cyclone Stephen King
Get busy living or get busy dying.
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Get busy living or get busy dying. Stephen King
7
Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win. Stephen King
Time takes it all, whether you want it to or...
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Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not. Stephen King
No one ever does live happily ever after, but we...
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No one ever does live happily ever after, but we leave the children to find that out for themselves. Stephen King
We never know which lives we influence, or when, or...
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We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why. Stephen King
What we like to think of ourselves and what we...
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What we like to think of ourselves and what we really are rarely have much in common.... Stephen King
I wouldn't have missed a single minute of it, Not...
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I wouldn't have missed a single minute of it, Not for the whole world. Stephen King
We fool ourselves so much we could do it for...
13
We fool ourselves so much we could do it for a living. Stephen King
You are the grim, goal-oriented ones who will not believe...
14
You are the grim, goal-oriented ones who will not believe that the joy is in the journey rather than the destination no matter how many times it has been proven to you. Stephen King
In the year 2025, the best men don't run for...
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In the year 2025, the best men don't run for president, they run for their lives.. .. Stephen King
Life is fair. We all get the same nine-month shake...
16
Life is fair. We all get the same nine-month shake in the box, and then the dice roll. Some people get a run of sevens. Some people, unfortunately, get snake-eyes. Its just how the world is. Stephen King
I wanted to say goodbye to someone, and have someone...
17
I wanted to say goodbye to someone, and have someone say goodbye to me. The goodbyes we speak and the goodbyes we hear are the goodbyes that tell us we´re still alive. Stephen King
They're animals, all right. But why are you so goddam...
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They're animals, all right. But why are you so goddam sure that makes us human beings? Stephen King
Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us...
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Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work. Stephen King
20
The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there...and still on your feet. Stephen King
Fault always lies in the same place: with him weak...
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Fault always lies in the same place: with him weak enough to lay blame. Stephen King
Am I weird?
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Am I weird?"" Yeah. But so what? Everybody's weird. Stephen King
To write is human, to edit is divine.
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To write is human, to edit is divine. Stephen King
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And people who don’t dream, who don’t have any kind of imaginative life, they must… they must go nuts. I can’t imagine that. Stephen King
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If you don’t have the time to do something right, where are you going to find the time to fix it? Stephen King
Quiet people have the loudest minds.
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Quiet people have the loudest minds. Stephen King
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want for...
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The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want for nothing. He makes me lie down in the green pastures. He greases up my head with oil. He gives me kung-fu in the face of my enemies. Amen Stephen King
Until we see each other again, keep your head together,...
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Until we see each other again, keep your head together, read some good books, be useful, be happy. Stephen King
He who speaks without an attentive ear is mute.
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He who speaks without an attentive ear is mute. Stephen King
30
When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, "Why god? Why me?" and the thundering voice of God answered, There's just something about you that pisses me off. Stephen King
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That wasn't any act of God. That was an act of pure human fuckery. Stephen King
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Humor is almost always anger with its make-up on. Stephen King
FEAR stands for fuck everything and run.
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FEAR stands for fuck everything and run. Stephen King
I think part of being a parent is trying to...
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I think part of being a parent is trying to kill your kids. Stephen King
A boy who once wiped his ass with poison ivy...
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A boy who once wiped his ass with poison ivy probably doesn't belong in a smart people's club. Stephen King
Oh shit, the mummy's after us, let's all walk a...
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Oh shit, the mummy's after us, let's all walk a little faster Stephen King
Murder is like potato chips: you can't stop with just...
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Murder is like potato chips: you can't stop with just one. Stephen King
This inhuman place makes human monsters.
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This inhuman place makes human monsters. Stephen King
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Why' is a crooked letter and can't be made straight. Stephen King
The greatest mystery the universe offers is not life but...
40
The greatest mystery the universe offers is not life but Size. Stephen King
But this wealth of information produced little or no insight.
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But this wealth of information produced little or no insight. Stephen King
I felt lonely and content at the same time. I...
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I felt lonely and content at the same time. I believe that is a rare kind of happiness. Stephen King
A person can go along quite awhile if they get...
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A person can go along quite awhile if they get a good day every once and again. Stephen King
Words have weight.
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Words have weight. Stephen King
You always know the truth, because when you cut yourself...
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You always know the truth, because when you cut yourself or someone else with it, there’s always a bloody show. Stephen King
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Why does she have to be such a...such a..."" Go on, " I said. "The truth is never cussing, Son.""Such a bitch! Stephen King
Things conceived by minds and made by hands can never...
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Things conceived by minds and made by hands can never be quite the same, even if they try their best to be identical, because they're never the same from day to day or even moment to moment. Stephen King
The world was full of monsters, and they were all...
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The world was full of monsters, and they were all allowed to bite the innocent and the unwary Stephen King
Some part of me knew from the first that what...
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Some part of me knew from the first that what I wanted was not reality but myth. Stephen King
50
He was in that mostly empty-headed state of grace which is sometimes such fertile soil ; it's the ground from which our brightest dreams and biggest ideas (both good and spectacularly bad) suddenly burst forth, often full-blown. Stephen King
Never's the word God listens for when he needs a...
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Never's the word God listens for when he needs a laugh. Stephen King
52
I don't believe in any actual thinking God that marks the fall of every bird in Australia or every bug in India, a God that records all of our sins in a big golden book and judges us when we die - I don't want to believe in a God who would deliberately create bad people and then deliberately send them to roast in a hell He created-but I believe there has to be something Stephen King
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There’s always a choice. That’s God’s way, always will be. Your will is still free. Do as you will. There’s no set of leg-irons on you. But... this is what God wants of you. Stephen King
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You said 'God is cruel' the way a person who's lived his whole life on Tahiti might say 'Snow is cold'. You knew, but you didn't understand." He stepped close to David and put his palms on the boy's cold cheeks. "Do you know how cruel your God can be, David. How fantastically cruel? Stephen King
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It don't matter if you believe in God Nick, he believes in you. Stephen King
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If God rewards us on earth for good deeds–the Old Testament suggests it’s so, and the Puritans certainly believed it–then maybe Satan rewards us for evil ones. Stephen King
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Christ.No, not Christ. These leavings were made in propitiation of a much older God than the Christian one. People have called Him different things at different times, but Rachel’s sister gave Him a perfectly good name, I think: Oz the Gweat and Tewwible, God of dead things left in the ground, God of rotting flowers in drainage ditches, God of the Mystery. Stephen King
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She was satisfied with the answer God had given Moses from the burning bush when Moses had seen fit to question. Who are you? Mose asks, and God comes back from that bush just as pert as you like: I Am, Who I AM. In other words, Mose, stop beatin around this here bush and get your old ass in gear. Stephen King
And because Eddie knew that was only the truth, he...
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And because Eddie knew that was only the truth, he said nothing. Stephen King
Sometimes when you're young, you have moments of such happiness,...
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Sometimes when you're young, you have moments of such happiness, you think you're living on someplace magical, like Atlantis must have been. Then we grow up and our hearts break into two. Stephen King
61
Several times we had been very close to "it, " but "it" just never quite happened. She always drew back, and I never pressed her. God help me, I was being gallant. I have wondered often since what would have changed (for good or for ill) had I not been. What I know now is that gallant young men rarely get pussy. Put it on a sampler and hang it in your kitchen. Stephen King
I don't care so much about what you can stand...
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I don't care so much about what you can stand or what you can manage as I do about what you like and want to have. Those are the kinds of things I want to give you, because I'm crazy about you. Stephen King
Remember, Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of...
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Remember, Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. Stephen King
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Andy Dufresne: 'That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you..haven't you ever felt that way about music?' Red: 'I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn't make much sense in here.' Andy: 'Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.' Red: 'Forget?'Andy: 'Forget that..there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside..that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours.' Red: 'What're you talking about?' Andy: 'Hope. . Stephen King
65
Eddie saw great things and near misses. Albert Einstein as a child, not quite struck by a run-away milk-wagon as he crossed a street. A teenage boy named Albert Schweitzer getting out of a bathtub and not quite stepping on the cake of soap lying beside the pulled plug. A Nazi Oberleutnant burning a piece of paper with the date and place of the D-Day Invasion written on it. He saw a man who intended to poison the entire water supply of Denver die of a heart attack in a roadside rest-stop on I-80 in Iowa with a bag of McDonald’s French fries on his lap. He saw a terrorist wired up with explosives suddenly turn away from a crowded restaurant in a city that might have been Jerusalem. The terrorist had been transfixed by nothing more than the sky, and the thought that it arced above the just and unjust alike. He saw four men rescue a little boy from a monster whose entire head seemed to consist of a single eye. But more important than any of these was the vast, accretive weight of small things, from planes which hadn’t crashed to men and women who had come to the correct place at the perfect time and thus founded generations. He saw kisses exchanged in doorways and wallets returned and men who had come to a splitting of the way and chosen the right fork. He saw a thousand random meetings that weren’t random, ten thousand right decisions, a hundred thousand right answers, a million acts of unacknowledged kindness. He saw the old people of River Crossing and Roland kneeling in the dust for Aunt Talitha’s blessing; again heard her giving it freely and gladly. Heard her telling him to lay the cross she had given him at the foot of the Dark Tower and speak the name of Talitha Unwin at the far end of the earth. He saw the Tower itself in the burning folds of the rose and for a moment understood its purpose: how it distributed its lines of force to all the worlds that were and held them steady in time’s great helix. For every brick that landed on the ground instead of some little kid’s head, for every tornado that missed the trailer park, for every missile that didn’t fly, for every hand stayed from violence, there was the Tower. And the quiet, singing voice of the rose. The song that promised all might be well, all might be well, that all manner of things might be well. Stephen King
Free at last, he thought. Great God Almighty, I'm free...
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Free at last, he thought. Great God Almighty, I'm free at last. Then: I believe this is redemption. And it's good, isn't it? Quite good, indeed. Stephen King
67
He said it was as if Tommy had produced a key which fit a cage in the back of his mind, a cage like his own cell. Only instead of holding a man, that cage held a tiger, and that tiger's name was Hope. Williams produced the key that unlocked the cage and the tiger was out, willy-nilly, to roam his brain. Stephen King
Sometimes dead is better
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Sometimes dead is better Stephen King
You're dead, George. You just don't have the sense to...
69
You're dead, George. You just don't have the sense to lie down. Stephen King
70
At the end of her life she was aware of heat but not pain. She had time to consider his eyes, eyes of that blue which is the color of the sky at first light of the morning. She had time to think of him on the Drop, riding Rusher flat out with his black hair flying back from his temples and his neckerchief rippling; to see him laughing with an ease and freedom he would never find again in the long life which stretched out for him beyond hers, and it was his laughter she took with her as she went out, fleeing the light and heat in to the silkly, consoling dark, calling to him over and over as she went, calling bird and bear and hare and fish. Stephen King
The family exists for many reasons, but its most basic...
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The family exists for many reasons, but its most basic function may be to draw together after a member dies. Stephen King
We fall from womb to tomb, from one blackness and...
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We fall from womb to tomb, from one blackness and toward another, remembering little of the one and knowing nothing of the other ... except through faith. Stephen King
There was a lot they didn’t tell you about death,...
73
There was a lot they didn’t tell you about death, she had discovered, and one of the biggies was how long it took the ones you loved most to die in your heart. Stephen King
74
Last reason for reading horror: it’s a rehearsal for death. It’s a way to get ready. People say there’s nothing sure but death and taxes. But that’s not really true. There’s really only death, you know. Death is the biggie. Two hundred years from now, none of us are going to be here. We’re all going to be someplace else. Maybe a better place, maybe a worse place; it may be sort of like New Jersey, but someplace else. The same thing can be said of rabbits and mice and dogs, but we’re in a very uncomfortable position: we’re the only creatures–at least as far as we know, though it may be true of dolphins and whales and a few other mammals that have very big brains–who are able to contemplate our own end. We know it’s going to happen. The electric train goes around and around and it goes under and around the tunnels and over the scenic mountains, but in the end it always goes off the end of the table. Crash. . Stephen King
We have once again succeeded in destroying what we could...
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We have once again succeeded in destroying what we could not create. Stephen King
The monster nevers dies.
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The monster nevers dies. Stephen King
We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I...
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We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long. Stephen King
Death in the horror movies is when the monsters get...
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Death in the horror movies is when the monsters get you. Stephen King
Kill you all!
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Kill you all! " The clown was laughing and screaming. "Try to stop me and I'll kill you all! Drive you crazy and then kill you all! You can't stop me! Stephen King
80
Some of these guys will go on walking long after the laws of biochemistry and handicapping have gone by the boards. There was a guy last year that crawled for two miles at four miles an hour after both of his feet cramped up at the same time, you remember reading about that? Look at Olson, he's worn out but he keeps going. That goddam Barkovitch is running on high-octane hate and he just keeps going and he's as fresh as a daisy. I don't think I can do that. I'm not tired -not really tired- yet. But I will be." The scar stood out on the side of his haggard face as he looked ahead into the darkness "And I think.. when I get tired enough.. I think I'll just sit down . Stephen King
81
Garraty wondered how it would be, to lie in the biggest, dustiest library silence of all, dreaming endless, thoughtless dreams behind your gummed-down eyelids, dressed forever in your Sunday suit. No worries about money, success, fear, joy, pain, sorrow, sex, or love. Absolute zero. No father, mother, girlfriend, lover. The dead are orphans. No company but the silence like a moth's wing. An end to the agony of movement, to the long nightmare of going down the road. The body in peace, stillness, and order. The perfect darkness of death. How would that be? Just how would that be?. Stephen King
Twas something else. I had come to hate her, you...
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Twas something else. I had come to hate her, you see. I had come to wish her dead, and that was what held me back. Stephen King
To his way of thinking, the only thing more natural...
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To his way of thinking, the only thing more natural than death was sex. Stephen King
84
He held her and rocked her, believing, rightly or wrongly, that Ellie wept for the very intractability of death, its imperviousness to argument or to a little girl’s tears; that she wept over its cruel unpredictability; and that she wept because of the human being’s wonderful, deadly ability to translate symbols into conclusions that were either fine and noble or blackly terrifying. If all those animals had died and been buried, then Church could die (any time! ) and be buried; and if that could happen to Church, it could happen to her mother, her father, her baby brother. To herself. Death was a vague idea; the Pet Sematary was real. In the texture of those rude markers were truths which even a child’s hands could feel. Stephen King
He could not say goodbye to these three rooms as...
85
He could not say goodbye to these three rooms as he could to a house he had loved: hotel rooms accepted departures emotionlessly. Stephen King
A life without books is a thirsty life, and one...
86
A life without books is a thirsty life, and one without poetry is...like a life without pictures. Stephen King
Help us to be true, Lord. Help us to stand.
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Help us to be true, Lord. Help us to stand. Stephen King
If you don't have time to read, you don't have...
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If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. Stephen King
The road to hell is paved with adverbs.
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The road to hell is paved with adverbs. Stephen King
Fiction is the truth inside the lie.
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Fiction is the truth inside the lie. Stephen King
91
The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear. Stephen King
The scariest moment is always just before you start.
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The scariest moment is always just before you start. Stephen King
If you want to be a writer, you must do...
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If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. Stephen King
You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to...
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You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will. Stephen King
A short story is a different thing altogether — a...
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A short story is a different thing altogether — a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger. Stephen King
A little talent is a good thing to have if...
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A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar. Stephen King
Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in...
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Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s. Stephen King
98
Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy. Stephen King
Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus...
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Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. Stephen King
Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.
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Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Stephen King