Toni Morrison, on books, reading and writing:

If there's a book you really want to read,

but it hasn't been written yet,

then you must write it.

- Toni Morrison.

Albert Einstein, on imagination:

 

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.

- Albert Einstein.

E. L. Konigsburg, on writing:

 

Finish.

The difference between being a writer and being a person of talent is the discipline it takes to apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair and finish.

Don't talk about it.

Do it.

Finish.

- E. L. Konigsburg.

Burton Rascoe, on writers:

 

A writer is working when looking out the window.

- Burton Rascoe.

Nicole Krauss, on reading:

I read like an animal.
I read under the covers, I read lying in the grass, I read at the dinner table.
While other people were talking to me, I read.
- Nicole Krauss.

F. Sionil Jose, on writing:

You should live in a manner that should enable you to devote time to writing and contemplation.

As is often said, the writer is at work even when he is simply looking out the window.

- F. Sionil Jose.

Edgar Allan Poe, on imagination:

 

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night.

- Edgar Allan Poe.

Ann Patchett, on reading:

 

It's always better to have too much to read than not enough.
- Ann Patchett.

Ann Patchett, on the importance of books and reading:

 

You can't spend your whole life in front of a screen.
- Ann Patchett.
 

E. L. Doctorow, on writing:

 

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.

Doris Betts, on writing:

 

All one needs to write a story is one feeling and four walls.

- Doris Betts.

Mason Cooley, on reading:

Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.

- Mason Cooley.

Jane Austen, on novels:

It is only a novel ...

or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed,
in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature,
the happiest delineation of its varieties,
the liveliest effusions of wit and humor,
are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.

- Jane Austen.

Chris Grabenstein, on reading:

Open a book and open your mind.
– Chris Grabenstein.

Simon Van Booy, on books and reading:

 

I read books because I love them,

not because I think I should read them. 

- Simon Van Booy.

Isabel Allende, on writing:

 

Writing is a calling, not a choice.

- Isabel Allende.

Arthur Schopenhauer, on reading:

 

I've never known any trouble than an hour's reading didn't assuage.

- Arthur Schopenhauer.

Rachel Carson, on writing:

Writing is largely a matter of application and hard work, or writing endlessly until you are satisfied that you have said what you want to say as clearly and simply as possible.

For me, that usually means many, many revisions.

- Rachel Carson.

Saul Bellow, on writing:

 You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.

- Saul Bellow.

Ernest Hemingway, on listening:

I like to listen.
I have learned a great deal from listening carefully.
Most people never listen.

- Ernest Hemingway.