10 Book Quotes for a Writer’s Heart

My last Top Ten Tuesday was six months ago and I am grateful that The Artsy Ready Girl remains committed to this beautiful prompt.

This week’s theme is: Book Quotes that Fit X Theme (Pick any theme you want, i.e., motivational quotes, romantic dialogues, hunger-inducing quotes, quotes that fill you with hope, quotes on defeating adversity, quotes that present strong emotions, healing, etc. and then select quotes from books that fit that theme.)

As you may know, I am a poet, too, hence the name A Reading Writer. 😉 So here are some wise words that stir my writing heart + the books that carry them.

  1. “Start with empathy. Continue with utility. Improve with analysis. Optimize with love.” ― Ann Handley, Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
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2. “A man’s soul or lack of it will be evident with what he can carve upon a white sheet of paper.” — Charles BukowskiOn Writing

3. “In my godless household, poems were the closest we came to sacred speech — the only prayers said. Mary Karr, Sinners Welcome

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4. “That room has been static for me so long:
an emptiness. a void. a silence
containing an unheard story
ready for me to unlock.

Let there be plot.”
― Margaret Atwood, Dearly

5. “If I want to understand what moves me, what confuses me, what pains me—everything that makes me react, in short—I have to put it into words.” ― Jhumpa Lahiri, In Other Words

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6. “To be an artist means: not to calculate and count; to grow and ripen like a tree which does not hurry the flow of its sap and stands at ease in the spring gales without fearing that no summer may follow. It will come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are simply there in their vast, quiet tranquility, as if eternity lay before them.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

7. “The key to flow is to pursue an activity for its own sake, not for the rewards it brings.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

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8. “Poets are alchemists of nothingness. They aspire to turn silence, nothingness, absence, into something palpable.” ― Matthew Zapruder, Why Poetry

9. “The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

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10. “Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot if difference. They don’t have to makes speeches. Just believing is usually enough.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

What writing quote has recently moved you? Share your thoughts and your TTT below!

25.05.2021
©2021 Rosemawrites@A Reading Writer. All Rights Reserved.
Photos via The Artsy Reader and Goodreads
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

18 thoughts on “10 Book Quotes for a Writer’s Heart”

  1. Even though I may never be able to finish any of my million writing projects, I know I love to read books on the writing craft. Stephen King is an old practical favorite, but Dearly — how dearly do I love Dearly! Thanks for adding in some lovely recs, I’m going to check them all out. Happy TTT! ~Lex

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday! It’s nice to hear from you again.

    Writing is a lonely job at times for sure. It’s so important to reach out to others who get it.

    And thanks for stopping by earlier.

    Liked by 1 person

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