Even the best of us can sometimes suffer from writer's block. On those days when the words just don't seem to flow, it can be really helpful and inspiring to sit and read writing quotes from great authors.
They've been there, (we all have) and reading the best writing quotes can sometimes break the block and inspire you to new heights!
Here are 40 inspirational writing quotes that can break the block and spur you on to new levels of creativity!
1. “If something isn't working, if you have a story that you've built and it's blocked and you can't figure it out, take your favorite scene, or your very best idea or set piece, and cut it. It's brutal, but sometimes inevitable.” Joss Whedon2. “You don't write because you want to say something. You write because you have something to say.” F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. “There is no greater agony that bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou
4. “Be ruthless about protecting writing days, i.e. Do not cave in to endless requests to have “essential” and “long overdue” meetings on those days.” J.K. Rowling
5. “You flourish one hushed breath at a time. Imagine all you can build word by single word.” Laurie Seidler
6. “Some books are so alive that they never leave you. They only change you.” Brandt Legg
7. “If a plot is a novel's skeleton, and characters are the muscle, then the theme is it's soul.” Janice Hardy
8. “I believe in hard work and luck, and that the first often leads to the second.” J.K. Rowling
9. “Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. Shakespeare has perhaps 20 players... I have 10 or so, and that's a lot. As you get older, you become more skillful at casting them.” Gore Vidal
10. “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” Robert Frost
11. “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it might have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.” Elmore Leonard
12. “The first sentence can't be written until the final sentence is written.” Joyce Carol Oates
13. “I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent, he would be wise to develop a thick hide.” Harper Lee
14. “You realize you must give in to the muse from afar. You have to heed the inner voice that has come calling.” Mala Naidoo
15. “If writing didn't create emotional risk, then it wouldn't be worth doing.” James Maxon
16. “A good plot is like a well crafted puzzle. Each piece is vital to the bigger picture, connecting each other to tell the larger tale.” Janice Hardy
17. “Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.” Ray Bradbury
18. “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” Toni Morrison
19. “The reason fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.” Eleanor Roosevelt
20. “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” Anais Nin
21. “Being a writer all boils down to this: It's you, in a chair, staring at a page. And you're either going to stay in that chair until words are written, or you're going to give up and walk away. The great writers have to fight for their words. They have to choose to write, choose words over distractions, and their characters over their friends. Great writers can be lonely, exhausted souls. But through our characters we live.” Alessandra Torre
22. “If my doctor told me I only had six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.” Isaac Asimov
23. “The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes.” Agatha Christie
24. “Words are the writer's sorcery, out dark arts and our sleight of hand. They're our enchantment and our temptation.” Karl Wiggins
25. “If you can't write, read. If you can't read, walk. Or walk and read, then write.” Joyce Rachelle
26. “Time spent doing whatever it is you do to escape your daily life would be better spent acquiring a life that needs no escape.” Shaun Hick
27. “What doesn't kill me provides writing material.” Wayne Gerard Trotman
28. “Don't ever let yourself surrender to writer's block.” Julie Wenzel
29. “Creativity bleeds from the pen of inspiration.” T.N. Suarez
30. “There are some things I would like to say through my writing. It is there in those things where my writing is born, and then breathes on its own.” Roger Raffee
31. “Getting inspired is simple, it just requires hard work.” Marion Kummerow
32. “This is how you do it: You sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It's that easy and that hard.” Neil Gaiman
33. “If you want to be a writer, you have to write every day... you don't go to a well once, but daily.” Walter Mosley
34. “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” Thomas Mann
35. “If you want to write, just write anything that comes into your mind. You will be surprised at how you can force inspiration to stand on your side.” Bangambiki Habyarimana
36. “Writers get ideas all day every day. The FedEx guy delivers a package from Sears and the writer is thinking how it could actually be a ticking time bomb.” Dan Alatorre
37. “True authors don't write for fame or to make a name or money, they write to make an impact.” Bernard Kelvin Clive
38. “Remember: Bad timing equals great plot twists.” A.L. Mabry
39. “I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for.” Alice Walker
40. “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” Anne Frank
These forty writing quotes all share one common element. The way to be a successful writer is to sit down and write! We all have bouts of self doubt, or distractions that can take us away from our work.
A real writer will work through their difficulties to produce and create. Next time you're feeling blocked, turn to these quotes to regain your inspiration and find your muse!
Writing great content can sometimes come easily, and somedays can feel like a real chore. Keeping your mind open and grabbing inspiration from anywhere you can, can often make the difference between a bad day, and an inspirational run!