Recent content by Paul Whybrow

“We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel... is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.” Ursula K. Le Guin

I never dreamed about success. I worked for it. Estée Lauder

Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have all the answers. Socrates

The moment a woman starts writing her truth she becomes dangerous. Elif Shafak

You come from dust and you will return to dust. That’s why I don’t dust – it could be someone I know. Anonymous

Don't be afraid of failure; be afraid of petty success. Maude Adams

You get used to the dark, you realize the ghosts are all friendly. Jack Kerouac

'Writing is a cop-out. An excuse to live perpetually in fantasy land, where you can create, direct and watch the products of your own head.' Monica Dickens

'The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof lie detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers have had it.' Ernest Hemingway

"Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack." Brandon Sanderson

“Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.” Henri Frederic Amiel

“Knowledge is like underwear. It is useful to have it, but not necessary to show it off.” Bill Murray

'Pedestrian writing, thin characters - I can handle the criticism. I write to pedestrians. And I am a pedestrian. I write the best I can. I know I'm never going to be revered as some classic writer. I don't claim to be C. S. Lewis. The literary-type writers, I admire them. I wish I was smart...

Give readers adequate room to breathe if you’re giving them air they’ve never breathed. Kiese Laymon

"When someone is critical of something you make, usually it's more about them than it is about you." Rick Rubin