Quotations for Notebooks

I like collecting quotes, especially quotes about writing.  If you like inspirational quotes, then here are a few about writing.  Some of these would be perfect to paste onto the inside front cover of your students’ writer’s notebooks if you’re planning to purchase notebooks or hand out school-issued writer’s notebooks to them.

“Stories are the sacred place within.” –Joseph Bruchac

“The sole purpose I write is to get a reaction.” –Mem Fox

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.  No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” –Robert Frost

“The deepest secret in our heart of hearts is that we are writing because we love the world.” –Natalie Goldberg

“The writing is never what takes the most time.  It’s trying to figure what you’re going to put down that fills the days.” –William Goldman

“Beginning is easy — continuing is hard.” –Japanese proverb

“It’s through the process of writing that ideas and feelings emerge.  Let yourselves play with whatever you observe.  Describe a pot of boiling water on the stove, the flash of bicycle spokes.  What you think and feel about the world can be trusted to surface.” –Ted Kooser

“First sentences are doors to worlds.” –Ursula K. LeGuin

“Instructions for living life:  Pay attention.  Be astonished.  Tell about it.” –Mary Oliver

“There are only two ways, really, to become a writer.  One is to write.  The other is to read.” –Anna Quindlen

“The telling detail is the essence of writing.” –Stephen Sondheim