Mithrandir’s most recent Quotables

Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.

"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm"

I itch with sentences that never appear.

So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.

The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.

Every writer is a thief, though some of us are more clever than others at disguising our robberies. The reason writers are such slow readers is that we are ceaselessly searching for things we can steal and then pass off as our own…

I just tried to put a footnote in a footnote, and I think I tore a hole in space time.

People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.

It is our choices, Harry, that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities.

“Success in life is directly proportional to the number of awkward conversations you’re willing to have.”

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I’ve lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment.

Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

Twitter makes me like people I've never met and Facebook makes me hate people I know in real life.

I'm going to get tattoo that says "Helvetica", but I am going to get it in Arial. When a woman corrects me on it, I will marry her.

What’s the point of going out? We’re just going to wind up back here anyway.

I hadn't realized how much one small gesture can mean.

Three little sentences will get you through life. Number one: Cover for me. Number two: Oh, good idea, boss. Number three: It was like that when I got here.

You give me a gift? Bam! Thank You note. You invite me somewhere? Pow! RSVP. You do me a favor? Wham! Favor returned. Do not test my politeness.

Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.