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I think that like all writers - and if any writer disagrees with this, then he is not a writer - I write primarily for myself.

Any writer will be happy and good only if they know what they're doing and why they're doing it.

A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom.

Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.

For me, a writer should be more like a lighthouse keeper, just out there by himself. He shouldn't get his ideas from other people all around him.

A writer is unfair to himself when he is unable to be hard on himself.

I think it's a terrible thing to write and not enjoy it. It's a sad thing. But of course a lot of people do work because they need to eat. And we all need to eat, but that's not the only reason to work. You couldn't have paid me not to write.

Being a writer is not the point. Writing is.

Yeah, writers do hate writing.

On the other hand, I mean, that is what writers have always been supposed to do, was to rely on their own devices and to - I mean, writing is a lonely business.