Do you spell it with a "V" or a "W"?' inquired the judge. 'That depends upon the taste and fancy of the speller, my Lord'.... 
Charles Dickens

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs. 
Christopher Hampton

A word is dead when it is said, some say; I say it just begins to live that day. 
Emily Dickenson

"An author ought to write for the youth of his generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of the afterward." 
F. Scott Fitzgerald 

"Easy reading is damned hard writing."
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
Benjamin Franklin

Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.
E. L. Doctorow

The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.
Gustave Flaubert

Writing means sharing. It's part of the human condition to want to share things - thoughts, ideas, opinions.
Paulo Coelho

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
Ernest Hemingway

Writing is an extreme privilege but it's also a gift. It's a gift to yourself and it's a gift of giving a story to someone.
Amy Tan