68 Quotes About Writers On Thinking

Books are important not only for their entertainment value, but also for the life lessons they teach. Here are some great quotes about thinking from famous writers throughout history. From Shakespeare to Hemingway, this list of quotes will give you some real insight into the minds of some of the best thinkers of all time.

1
The internet is killing the art of writing. The big "publish" button begs you to publish even before you go back and make one single edit, and as if this was not enough, you have instant readers who praise your writing skills! - Bangambiki Habyarimana
We have conversations most nights, Sylvia Plath and me. On...
2
We have conversations most nights, Sylvia Plath and me. On these cold wintry nights with our coffee mugs in hand, we talk for hours and hours, Sylvia Plath and me! Avijeet Das
3
All writers are demonic dreamers. Writing is an act of sharing experiences and offering of an individualistic perspective of our private attitudes pertaining to whatever topics of thought intrigues the author. Writing is a twitchy art, which attempts to employ linguist building blocks handed-down from past generations. Writers’ word choices form a structure of conjoined sentences when overlaid with the lingua of modern culture. Writers attempt to emulate in concrete form the synesthesia of our personal pottage steeped in our most vivid feelings. Writing a personal essay calls for us to sort out a jungle of lucid observations and express in a tangible technique our unique interpretation of coherent observations interlaced with that effusive cascade of yearning, the universal spice of unfilled desire, which turmoil of existential angst swamps us. Kilroy J. Oldster
4
Life is a collection of memories and feelings. Mawkish sentimentally urges us to engage in artistic overtures, we yearn to share with other people a melody of rudimentary experiences and respond to a stabilizing tune strung together with a shared ethos. We walk in parallel strides with our brethren seeking out equivalent affirmations of our being. We long to shout out to the world that we once walked this earth; we seek to leave in our wake traces of our pithy habitation. Our unfilled longing propels us into committing senseless acts of self-sabotage and then we desperately seek redemption from our slippery selves by building monuments to the human spirit. We employ a bewildering blend of conscious and unconscious materials to construct synoptic testaments to our temporal existence. We labor on the canvas of our choosing to scrawl our inimitable mark, fanatically toiling to escape a sentence of total obliteration along with our impending mortality. . Kilroy J. Oldster
5
I used to be afraid about what people might say or think after reading what I had written. I am not afraid anymore, because when I write, I am not trying to prove anything to anyone, I am just expressing myself and my opinions. It’s ok if my opinions are different from those of the reader, each of us can have his own opinions. So writing is like talking, if you are afraid of writing, you may end up being afraid of talking. Bangambiki Habyarimana
6
I am not a supporter of burning books; but like poison, some books should be kept away from simple minds who can't take in the strong content they provide Bangambiki Habyarimana
7
One author said "I write because I want to live a footprint in the sands of history.” It's hard to live a footprint in the sands of history when giants are passing through the same sands unless you are one of the giants Bangambiki Habyarimana
8
Storytelling is ultimately the only way that we know besides song, dance, painting, and music to share with our tribesmen what it means to be human, express the indefinable feelings that unite humankind. Kilroy J. Oldster
9
The metaphysical poetry of our innovative life springs from the aesthetic, scenic, and systematic processes of inventiveness, the creative impulse of an active mind generating aesthetical intuition. Kilroy J. Oldster
10
In order to protect their good names for posterity, many writers never wrote what they thought or the truth as it stood. That's why truth still lies hidden in matters of power, sex and religion. No wonder they chose to do so, many who dared paid with their heads Bangambiki Habyarimana
11
If you are writing fiction, think like a god. Release all the power of your imagination; create worlds and destroy them at your will, create as many miracles as your story needs Bangambiki Habyarimana
12
Writing and other efforts to produce an enduring piece of artwork is a gallant response to the prospect of death. Every person knows that they must die, and consequently people build elaborate symbolic defenses mechanism to shield themselves from knowledge of their impermanence. Every person possesses autonomy of the will, the ability to choose how to conduct their life. The freedom to act towards objects is ultimately useless; it provides a person with no sense of meaning and supplies no purpose to life because a mere collection of objects will not transcend their physical demise. An artist does not deny their impermanence but embraces the prospect of their death by laboring to create a monument of their existence that will survive their expiry. Kilroy J. Oldster
13
The world would have been a better place if some men had just shut their mouths. Bangambiki Habyarimana
14
I am what I have ever read Bangambiki Habyarimana
15
We write, not because we claim to know more than others, but perhaps because we want to know more than others. Writers are explorers Bangambiki Habyarimana
16
Words disappear in the air, but writing remains. If you want something to be remembered about you, write it down Bangambiki Habyarimana
17
A writer is never alone, he is always with himself Bangambiki Habyarimana
18
You say you have nothing to write about? How do you find things to talk about? You can write about those things you like to talk about, that's your area of expertise Bangambiki Habyarimana
19
. If you want to write, just write anything that comes into your mind. You will be surprised at how you can force inspiration to stand on your side. Bangambiki Habyarimana
20
You can edit what you write. Why not edit what you say? If it hurts somebody, you can still offer an apology or withdraw your statements Bangambiki Habyarimana
21
Able writers let us into their minds and show us how they think and by that open our minds to ourselves Bangambiki Habyarimana
22
Sometimes I have a good idea, something I wish I could remember, and instead of writing it down, commit it to my memory only to disappear when I needed it. Write your ideas as they come, if you wait it will be too long and you may not recover it. It may get destroyed as it is to seed to and fro in the ever rushing river of our thoughts Bangambiki Habyarimana
23
If you are afraid of the critics you will never write a word Bangambiki Habyarimana
24
You never know what you will write until you write it Bangambiki Habyarimana
25
Write it as you see in your own perspective, you may be right or wrong but then what, that's how you see it Bangambiki Habyarimana
26
How do you feel when you read stuff written by dead authors? A visit by a ghost? Bangambiki Habyarimana
27
You cannot write if you are not angry Bangambiki Habyarimana
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You cannot write if you are not on fire Bangambiki Habyarimana
29
Writing is sharing. You share what you have. Great writers have more to share Bangambiki Habyarimana
30
People speak even after their death. Only do speak those who have recorded their speech in writing before they die, the rest go silent forever Bangambiki Habyarimana
31
The power of a writer is that he is a god of sorts. He can create his own worlds and populate them with his own people, all by the powers of his imagination. It's the closest a man can come close to the gods. No wonder the most successful writers are considered immortals Bangambiki Habyarimana
32
Self-censorship is more efficient than any police. You write and say not what you really think, but what you believe is acceptable. By that process we lose those revolutionary ideas that could change society for the better Bangambiki Habyarimana
33
Many writers write because they’ve been there, seen that, did it and burnt their fingers Bangambiki Habyarimana
34
A writer reports on the universe. When he presents his credentials, the gates of heaven and hell are equally opened to him. He can hear the devil’s defense and god’s accusations. The guards at the king’s heart let him in. The writer can be anything and any one he wants. When he writes he is a god, he creates. Bangambiki Habyarimana
35
If I can write, who possibly can’t. Even drawing a line in the sand is writing Bangambiki Habyarimana
36
The power of the writer is to capture the thoughts live and present them as they appeared in his mind Bangambiki Habyarimana
37
Writing is self-pleasure Bangambiki Habyarimana
38
Writing is all about self-expression, we want to speak up, to get it off our chest. Whether we make an impact or not that is not for us to decide Bangambiki Habyarimana
39
If I had time, money and knowledge I could write about everything; but no problem, Google is already doing it Bangambiki Habyarimana
40
Writing is magic happening on paper Bangambiki Habyarimana
41
Every book is worth reading. If it cannot make you wiser it will make you a critic Bangambiki Habyarimana
42
Today almost everybody is a writer, the enormous publish button on blogs and websites begs you everywhere to click on it! And bam you are a writer. To hell with agents and publishing houses and rejection letters. Immortality for you is on the click of a mouth! We are advancing at the speed of light! You can become an author at 140 characters. To hell with long winding sentences and long hours of scratching the head, the immortals of today instantly get a "like" and they instantly enter the pantheon! They seat side by side Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, St Paul, Buddha, Martin Luther, Rousseau, Bangambiki…. Bangambiki Habyarimana
43
When I write sometimes I strike gold, sometimes I labor in vain and keep producing rubbish Bangambiki Habyarimana
44
Don't believe in everything that is written. Not everything that is written is true Bangambiki Habyarimana
45
There's still too much energy leftover at this tomb-desk, on Broadway, when I am semi-asleep at night in our bedroom, struggling to get a good night's rest. There's an overflow of loin energy. It spills out from my pores as if I were a cracked drum of reacting chemicals. I need to work to expend this excess energy in words, stories and books.... My mind is a body that's a mind. Sergio Troncoso
46
Words are the residue that I was there, that I loved my wife, that I kissed my children goodnight, that I sacrificed my life for them. Words are a curse. Life is a curse. Words escape life. Life escapes words. What in God's name am I? How does someone name a God? What is it to name yourself? Sergio Troncoso
47
Words are not cubicles for truth telling. Words do not allow us to touch the face of God or define the contours of the soul. Words are imprecise and cannot capture all aspects of reality or replicate all facets of a person’s emotional mélange. Language allows for limited explorations of reality and minimal probing of the human mind. I accept that the only possible relation between language and the world is the image displayed in each person’s head by the picture invoking ability of language. Select word pictures might accurately portray what I perceive and still be vague, blatantly inaccurate, completely meaningless, misleading, distorted, or incomprehensible in other persons’ minds. Kilroy J. Oldster
48
Writing is mental exercise and the preeminent method to train the mind to achieve a desirable state of mental quietude. Meditative writing, a single pointed concentration of mental activity, induces an altered state of consciousness. Writing is studious rumination, a means to converse with our personal muse. Writing entails a period of forced solitude that enables us to meet and conduct a searching conversation with our authentic self. This contemplative dialogue with our true self is transformational. Writing is not a mere act but a journey of the mind into heretofore-unknown frontiers of the self. Kilroy J. Oldster
49
If you don’t do anything to capture and draw your memories–no matter whether you choose words, pencil, photography, or filming–the only place where they have a chance to exist is in your head, which can’t be called the most reliable place to store them; soon, they’d be lost forever… leaving no trace, like they never existed… like YOU never existed… same as those billions and billions of lives that had already disappeared from the world. Sahara Sanders
50
Writing allows a person to explore both physical reality and the internal workings of their mind. Writing places us in touch with our unconsciousness. Writing purposefully, applying the white heat of self-examination, can act to transform oneself. Writing allows a person with sufficient resolve to anneal their basic constitution, make their mind more flexible. Kilroy J. Oldster
51
A shaman and a writer each serve as their communities’ seers by engaging in extraordinary acts of conscientious study of the past and the present and predicting the future. An inner voice calls to the shaman and an essayistic writer to answer the call that vexes the pernicious spirit of their times. Shamanistic writers induce a trance state of mind where they lose contact with physical reality through a rational disordering of the senses, in an effort to encounter for the umpteenth time the great unknown and the unutterable truths that structure existence. An afflicted person seeking clarification of existence cannot ignore the shamanistic calling of narrative exposition. Thus, I shall continue this longwinded howl — making a personal immortality vessel — into the darkness of night forevermore. Kilroy J. Oldster
52
Writing requires a prolong period of academic education supplemented by studiously scrutinizing society and its customs. Writers also analyze their own nature and physical surroundings, a self-directed exploration of their internal and external environment. Kilroy J. Oldster
53
Writing is a solitary venture. Making use of a soundless void in the vortex of time the author enters the realm of restoration, an undertaking where he or she explores that private psychic space of the self. In this mystical state of heightened awareness, the writer investigates the soul’s grievances, and diagnoses and treats their grim afflictions. Kilroy J. Oldster
54
Writing is an exhausting and demoralizing task that destroys human conceits. Writing an elongated series of personal essay opens a person’s mind to explore paradoxes and discover previously unrealized personal truths. Writing is as arduous as any trek into the wilderness. Every sentence takes a writer deeper into the jungle of the mind, a world of frightening inconsistencies created by our waking life’s desire that the world of chaos conform to our convenience. . Kilroy J. Oldster
55
The secret to good writing is to use small words for big ideas, not to use big words for small ideas. Oliver Markus
56
I don’t see big subjects as separate from little ones. Yes, you could trudge through life with great human tragedies played out before your eyes without ever taking notice. Or you could see a universe in the smallest thing. The way a person takes their coffee, for example, might say something profound and important about that person, about all humanity, about existence itself. Johnny Rich
57
Storytelling creates a healing serum. The thematic unguent of our personal story represents a fusion of the ineffable truths that each of us must discover within ourselves. Kilroy J. Oldster
58
The womb of the world births us. My filth comes from the same earthwork that gives rise to all stories. My interior light connects me with all the other creatures that inhabit this world of rocks, air, grass, woods, and water. My genetic code links me inextricably with all of nature. I enter the medley in the river of life with the ability to respond as life unfolds before my childlike eyes. My homemade medicinal poultice might not be of any benefit to other people. Nonetheless, we should each write our stories because each of us aims to attain a greater degree of awareness of our own authenticity. We owe a moral obligation to our family, friends, and ourselves as well as to the community to make a determined effort to wring the most out of life. We must applaud all efforts to investigate the human condition. Even if my writing amounts to nothing more than a clumsy attempt to travel the same tracks other people burnished with much more insight, clarity, precision, and style, it is an act of self-definition to ascribe to any philosophy. Philosophy represents a living charter; it is a life of action. Kilroy J. Oldster
59
An author’s operating charter is to unearth embedded symbols that reflect complementary and inconsistent relationships of our collective assemblage, combine harmonizing and contradictory conceptions that motivate us, and delve larger truths out of variable and erratic elements of human nature. Kilroy J. Oldster
60
I am sorry, I am not a writer. I simply put my thoughts on paper. Those helped by them call them a book and me a writer. Those who are not helped call it rubbish and me a fool. Both have reason. Bangambiki Habyarimana
61
One day I will write a book. An epitaph Bangambiki Habyarimana
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Every book has its ancestors Bangambiki Habyarimana
63
Writing is exposing yourself to strangers Bangambiki Habyarimana
64
Writing is a competition between the writer and the page. When the page wins, you fail as a writer. Bangambiki Habyarimana
65
All people intuitively seek emotional equanimity, freedom from anxiety, distress, and trepidation that might cause a person to lose symmetrical balance of their mind. Nature intended for human beings to live in an enthusiastic and curious manner, always exploring, striving, and creating. Kilroy J. Oldster
66
By applying their observational abilities along with full appliance of their logic and creative powers, writers attempt to create mental maps to share with other people regarding what they learned, think, and believe. The writer’s vision can sway readers emotional state and in doing influence what they believe and how they behave. Kilroy J. Oldster
67
Personal essay writing is analogous to undertaking a vision quest, a potential turning point in life taken to discover intimate personal truths, form complex abstract thoughts, and ascertain the intended spiritual direction of a person’s life. Kilroy J. Oldster