25 Top Motivational Writing Quotes

What are the best motivational writing quotes, and how can they help?

Nobody has ever said that writing should always feel easy. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve sat down to write and felt uninspired and unmotivated.

New and experienced creatives sometimes experience writer’s block. When this happens, you might wonder what to do.

It’s a good idea to turn to motivational writing quotes that can help you get through this difficult patch.

The Top Motivational Writing Quotes

1. R.L. Stine

“People say, ‘What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?’ I say, they don’t really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they’re gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.”

R.L. Stine

2. Franz Kafka

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”

Franz Kafka

3. Anton Chekov

“My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.”

Anton Chekov

4. Stephen King       

“”When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re done, you have to step back and look at the forest.”

Stephen King

5. Nick Hornby

“”Anyone and everyone taking a writing class knows that the secret of good writing is to cut it back, pare it down, winnow, chop, hack, prune, and trim, remove every superfluous word, compress, compress, compress…”

Nick Hornby

6. Norman Vincent Peale

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.”

Norman Vincent Peale

7. Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them. “

Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. Joss Weldon

“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of.”

Joss Weldon

9. William H. Gass

“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.”

William H. Gass

10. Anne Frank

“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”

Anne Frank

11. Madeleine L’Engle

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”

Madeleine L’Engle

12. Mark Twain

“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

Mark Twain

13. William Faulkner

“Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.”

William Faulkner

14. Thomas Mann

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”

Thomas Mann

15. Aldous Huxley

“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly — they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”

Aldous Huxley

16. Ray Bradbury

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”Ray Bradbury

17. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

“”Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

18. Isaac Asimov

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.”

Isaac Asimov

19. John Steinbeck

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”

John Steinbeck

20. Friedrich Nietzsche

“A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

21. Elmore Leonard

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.”

Elmore Leonard

22. Gustave Flaubert

“I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within.”

Gustave Flaubert

23. Sidney Sheldon

“A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it is to be God.”

Sidney Sheldon

24. Natalie Goldberg

“Writers live twice.”

Natalie Goldberg

25. Henry Miller

“Writing is its own reward.”

Henry Miller

The Final Word on Motivational Writing Quotes

Every writer faces different challenges. So pick a motivational writing quote for your particular challenge.

As long as you persist, you will push through problems like writer’s block. Keep in mind you can always edit a bad page, but you can’t edit a blank page.

So, take a look at these motivational quotes and start writing today.

Author

  • Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.