Five Great Quotes: Writing – Talent or Hard Work?

“Perhaps it would be better not to be a writer, but if you must, then write. If all feels hopeless, if that famous ‘inspiration’ will not come, write. If you are a genius, you’ll make your own rules, but if not - and the odds are against it - go to your desk no matter what your mood, face the icy challenge of the paper - write.” - J. B. Priestly

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.” - Ernest Hemingway

“Talent isn’t enough. You need motivation-and persistence, too: what Steinbeck called a blend of faith and arrogance. When you’re young, plain old poverty can be enough, along with an insatiable hunger for recognition. You have to have that feeling of ‘I’ll show them.’ If you don’t have it, don’t become a writer.” - Leon Uris

“You are afraid to write your first novel because you say, ‘I am not a talented great writer.’ But you forget that nobody was born a talented great writer.” - Bangambiki Habyarimana

“The true writer, the born writer, will scribble words on scraps of litter, the back of a bus tickets, on the wall of a cell.” - David Nicholls

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