Authorship Quotes

Authorship, according to the spirit in which it is pursued is an infancy, a pastime, a labor, a handicraft, an art, a science, or a virtue.

Schlegel.

The two most engaging powers of an author, are, to make new things familiar, and familiar things new.

Johnson.

It is quite as much of a trade to make a book, as to make a clock. It requires more than mere genius to be an author.

Bruyere.

No author is so poor that he cannot be of some service, if only as a witness of his time.

Faucet.

To write well is to think well, to feel well, and to render well; it is to possess at once intellect, soul, and taste.

Buffoon.

He who purposes to be an author, should first be a student.

Dryden.

Never write on a subject without first having read yourself full on it; and never read yourself full on it; and never read on a subject till you have thought yourself hungry on it.

Richter.

Clear writers, like clear fountains, do not seem so deep as they are; the turbid seem the most profound.

Landor.

No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind.

Cervantes.

The most original authors are not so because they advance what is new, but because they put what they have to say as if it had never been said before.

Goethe.

The chief glory of a country, says Johnson, arises from its author. But this is only when they are oracles of wisdom. Unless they teach virtue they are more worthy of a halter than of the laurel.

Jane porter.

Next to doing things that deserve to be written, nothing gets a man more credit, or gives him more pleasure than to write things that deserve to be read.

Chesterfield.

There are three difficulties in authorship; to write anything worth publishing to find honest men to publish it and to get sensible men to read it.

Colton.

Talent alone cannot make a writer; there must be a man behind the book.

Emerson.

Every author in some degree portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.

Goethe.

Writers are the main landmarks of the past.

Bulwer.

A great writer is the friend and benefactor of his readers.

Macaulay.

Satire lies about men of letters during their lives, and eulogy after their death.

Voltaire.

It is doubtful whether mankind are most indebted to those who like Bacon and Butler dig the gold from the mine of literature, or to those who, like Paley, purify it, stamp it, fix its real value, and give it currency and utility.

Colton.

Authorship is a royal priesthood; but woe to him who rashly lays unhallowed hands on the ark or altar, professing a zeal for the welfare of the race, only to secure his own selfish ends.

Horace Greeley.