Favorite Quotes

Here are some of my favorite quotes about writing and the writing life. Enjoy!

Take the time to write. You can do your life's work in half an hour a day.
~ Robert Hass

May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke

"It turns out you are the story of your childhood
and you’re under constant revision,
like a lonely folktale whose invisible folks
are all the selves you’ve been, lifelong,
shadows in fog, grey glimmers at dusk."
~ from A Happy Childhood by William Matthews


Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
~ E. L. Doctorow