Writing and reading are, at their core, odd occupations, and many more learned and wise people have made observations about just how weird it can get — far better than I could.
Here’s some of my favourites.
The dramatist’s work area is people. Everything else is secondary.
Gene Roddenberry.
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The late John Bennett Shaw liked to suggest that all that’s required for ameeting of a Sherlockian society is two people sitting at a table with abottle on it.
…and in an emergency you can dispense with one of the people.
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Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader – not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.
E.L. Doctorow
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Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
Benjamin Franklin
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There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
Will Rogers
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If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.
Oscar Wilde
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There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
Ray Bradbury
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From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.
Groucho Marx
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Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.
Robert A. Heinlein
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If a book is well written, I always find it too short.
Jane Austin
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When I get a little money, I buy books. If any is left, I buy food and clothes.
Erasmus
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I am simply a ‘book drunkard.’ Books have the same irresistible temptation for me that liquor has for its devotee. I cannot withstand them.
L.M. Montgomery
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Be awesome! Be a book nut!
Dr. Seuss
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Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you’d most like not to lose.
Neil Gaiman
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And my top two:
We need to make books cool again. If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, don’t fuck them. Don’t sleep with people who don’t read!
John Waters
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Yes!
Remember though, your best weapon is between your ears and under your scalp -provided it’s loaded.
Robert A. Heinlein