Ultimately, literature is nothing but carpentry. With both you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes for thousands of years.

Willa Cather

First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!

Ray Bradbury

Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.

William Faulkner

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.

Jane Austen