Robyn Davidson, on being an introvert and a writer:

Much of the time I'm an introvert,

by choice spending a lot of time on my own.

I suppose liking my solitude is part of a writer's sensibility.

- Robyn Davidson.

Mortimer Adler, on books:

 

In the case of good books,

the point is not how many of them you can get through,

but rather how many can get through to you.

- Mortimer Adler.

Enid Bagnold, on writing:

Who wants to become a writer? 

And why?

Because it’s the answer to everything …

It’s the streaming reason for living.

To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.

 - Enid Bagnold.

Northrop Frye, on books:

The most technologically efficient machine that man has ever invented is the book.

- Northrop Frye.

Lucy Jane Bledsoe, on writing:

Writing is incredibly hard.

But I want to do it.

That said, I make it the top priority in every day, which for me means the first hours after getting out of bed in the morning.

I've been doing it enough years now that I don't even think about waiting for my muse to show up, I just get to work.

- Lucy Jane Bledsoe.

Colin Firth - on reading:

When I'm really into a novel, I'm seeing the world differently during that time — not just for the hour or so in the day when I get to read.

I'm actually walking around in a bit of a haze, spellbound by the book and looking at everything through a different prism.

- Colin Firth.

Amy Tan on writing:

 

Words to me were magic.

You could say a word and it could conjure up all kinds of images or feelings or a chilly sensation or whatever.

It was amazing to me that words had this power.

– Amy Tan.

Henry Rollins on writing:

 

If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light.

If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls.

I will always write.

I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you.

- Henry Rollins.

Carol Higgins Clark on writing:

 

A writer is always observant, of course ...

You can take the kernel of something - part of it - and use it in a book.

 - Carol Higgins Clark.

Toni Morrison on writing:

If writing is thinking and discovery and selection and order and meaning,

it is also awe and reverence and mystery and magic …

Authors arrive at text and subtext in thousands of ways,

learning each time they begin anew how to recognize a valuable idea and how to reader the texture that accompanies,

reveals or displays it to its best advantage.

- Toni Morrison. 

Charlaine Harris, on reading:

 

Here's to books, the cheapest vacation you can buy.

- Charlaine Harris.

Epictetus, on reading and writing:

 
If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write.

– Epictetus.

Jean Craighead George, on writing:

 

I love to write and I love the natural world.

Everything I've written about I've found exciting
and it has never left me at a loss for words.
I've always just done what I love.
- Jean Craighead George.

Joan Aiken, on stories:

Stories ought not to be just little bits of fantasy that are used to wile away an idle hour; from the beginning of the human race stories have been used - by priests, by bards, by medicine men - as magic instruments of healing, of teaching, as a means of helping people come to terms with the fact that they continually have to face insoluble problems and unbearable realities.
– Joan Aiken.

Victor Hugo, on books and reading:

 

It is from books that wise men derive consolation in the troubles of life.

- Victor Hugo.

Holly Black, on books:

 

It is my belief that books are living things.

- Holly Black.

Dr. Seuss, on books and reading:

 

The more you read, the more things you will know.

- Dr. Seuss.

Anne Rice, on writing:

When I write something, every word of it is meant.

I can't say it enough.

- Anne Rice. 

Louisa May Alcott, on books:

...and best of all, the wilderness of books, in which she could wander, where she liked, made the library a region of bliss to her.

- Louisa May Alcott.

Shannon Hale, on books and reading:

 

The book smelled dusty and old but also carried a sweet tang, a hint of something inviting.

She opened to the first page and started to read, pronouncing the words in a reverent whisper.
- Shannon Hale.