Quotable Quotes for Writers

Do you have a selection of your favorite quotes from your top fellow writers?

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What I love about writers, especially if the writer has an inspirational heart, is what they can teach me--not just about plot, characterization or theme, but what I learn about the power of words. A word gains power as it is used just right, when you feel it in beneath your skin and all the way into your heart.

Words that have meaning for me as a writer and as a person, are words that make me think well beyond the reading of them. I am awe-struck and want to change another piece of myself just for reading them. I want to take action.

You may love C.S. Lewis like I do but may not have read "Weight of Glory" though you've probably heard of "The Screwtape Letters." As in all Lewis literature such as the ever common but not so common "Mere Christianity," there is something profound to hear.

"Conceal from the patient the true end of Humility. Let him think of it not as self-forgetfulness but as a certain kind of opinion (namely, a low opinion) of his own talents and character" (From The Screwtape Letters).

"Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him (God); and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you" (From Weight of Glory).

"When will I ever learn to accept what is given instead of always yearning for more? My lavish expectations too often tarnish my blessings" (From A Year by the Sea, by Joan Anderson).

"God sometimes speaks in whispers, so we will move closer to hear" (Firstlight, by Sue Monk Kidd).

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And finally,

"When the heart is flooded with love there is no room in it for fear, for doubt, for hesitation. And it is this lack of fear that makes for the dance. When each partner loves so completely that he has forgotten to ask himself whether or not he is loved in return; when he only knows that he loves and is moving to its music--then, and then only, are two people able to dance perfectly in tune to the same rhythm" (Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh).

Today you may want to gather your own favorite quotes and have them readily available to read when you need a bit of uplift or guided direction. As a writer we may or may not believe in our own gifts, our own talents to write, but we usually forget who gave them to us in the first place.