Inspirational

“The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.” – Mary Catherine Bateson

“The engineers of the future will be poets.” – Terence McKenna

“If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), “Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?” chances

“Leaders lead by telling stories that give others permission to lead, not follow.” – Michael Margolis

“If you want to learn about a culture, listen to the stories. If you want to change a culture, change

“If you’re not telling your story, somebody is telling it for you.” – Michael Margolis

“Your greatest achievement will always be your life’s story.” – Michael Margolis

“We all will experience pain, struggle, and trauma; suffering is a choice to cling and remain attached to the story.”

“Dialogue is more powerful than narration. It puts audience members into the scene, allowing them to hear exactly what was

“If I could leave my audience with only one single key takeaway message, what would it be? If my audience

“Story—sacred and profane—is perhaps the main cohering force in human life.” – Jonathan Gottschall

“Story = Character + Predicament + Attempted Extrication” – Jonathan Gottschall

“Fiction is an ancient virtual reality technology that specializes in simulating human problems.” – Jonathan Gottschall

“A great story is true. Not necessarily because it’s factual, but because it’s consistent and authentic.” – Seth Godin

“Remarkable visions and genuine insights are always met with resistance. And when you start to make progress, your efforts are

“You don’t actually have to write anything until you’ve thought it out. This is an enormous relief, and you can

“Write while the heat is in you. … The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron

“When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature.” – Ernest

“I almost always urge people to write in the first person. … Writing is an act of ego and you

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” – Elmore Leonard

“Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.” – Virginia Woolf

“The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.” – Andre Gide

“Remember: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way

“Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.” – Ray Bradbury

“Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put

“When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat.

“The first sentence can’t be written until the final sentence is written.” – Joyce Carol Oates

“Plot is people. Human emotions and desires founded on the realities of life, working at cross purposes, getting hotter and

“There are no laws for the novel. There never have been, nor can there ever be.” – Doris Lessing

“I’m out there to clean the plate. Once they’ve read what I’ve written on a subject, I want them to

“We’re past the age of heroes and hero kings. … Most of our lives are basically mundane and dull, and

“Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. Shakespeare has perhaps 20 players. … I have 10

“For your born writer, nothing is so healing as the realization that he has come upon the right word.” -Catherine

“If I had not existed, someone else would have written me, Hemingway, Dostoyevsky, all of us.” – William Faulkner

“To defend what you’ve written is a sign that you are alive.” – William Zinsser

“If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.” – Peter Handke

“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a

“Not a wasted word. This has been a main point to my literary thinking all my life.” – Hunter S.

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” – Jack Kerouac

“It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.” – Jack Kerouac