Irwin Shaw Writing Quotations

No writer need feel sorry for himself if he writes and enjoys it, even if he doesn't get paid.

A good editor understands what you're talking and writing about and doesn't meddle too much.

Writing for the theater, you find yourself living a nocturnal life

An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.

Isaac Singer was born in Poland and doesn't write in English. Still, he's an American.

Writing is finally play, and there's no reason why you should get paid for playing

Special-interest magazines are dangerous places for writers to start out in because the writing quickly falls into a routine and people are likely to find themselves artistically exhausted when they want to work on something of their own

You must avoid giving hostages to fortune, like getting an expensive wife, an expensive house, and a style of living that never lets you aford the time to take the chance to write what you wish.

If you're young enough, any kind of writing you do for a short period of time is a marvelous apprenticeship.

Every novelist has a different purpose-and often several purposes which might even be contradictory.