Just because I felt inspired by my countrymen, here are some quotations from famous English writers:
- “A professional is a man who can do his job when he doesn’t feel like it. An amateur is a man who can’t do his job when he does feel like it.” – James Agate
- “Science fiction is no more written for scientists than ghost stories are written for ghosts.” – Brian Aldiss
- “Books say: she did this because. Life says: she did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren’t.” – Julian Barnes
- “Learn to write well, or not to write at all.” – John Sheffield
- “Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least.” – Lord Chesterfield
- “The only genuine consciousness-expanding drug.” – Arthur C. Clarke, talking about science fiction
- “An author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own children.” – Benjamin Disraeli
- “God damn you all: I told you so.” – H.G. Wells’ recommendation for his own epitaph
- “The test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way. If it never surprises, it is flat. If it does not convince, it is flat pretending to be round.” – E. M. Forster
- “The beastly adverb – far more damaging to a writer than an adjective.” – Graham Greene
Please share your own favourites, English or otherwise, by leaving me a comment below.
