Subject: Communication » Reading/Writing (Page 5)

I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper.

(1945 – ) comedian, actor, writer, playwright & musician

We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don’t know anything and can’t read.

Samuel Clemens (1835 – 1910) author & humorist

He writes dialogues by cutting monologues in two.

(1886 – 1969) American journalist & humorist

We have the power to bore people long after we are dead.

(1885 – 1951) American novelist, short-story writer & playwright

When I can’t sleep, I read a book by Steve Allen.

(1906 – 1972) pianist, composer, author, comedian & actor

It’s a very good historical book about history.

(1947 – ) U.S. vice president & politician

If you miss one issue of any magazine, it will be the issue that contains the article, story or installment you were most anxious to read.

Manuscript: something submitted in haste and returned at leisure.

(1863 – 1935) British-born American writer, artist & illustrator

Ordering a man to write a poem is like commanding a pregnant woman to give birth to a red-headed child.

Carl Sandburg (1878 – 1967) biographer & poet

Avoid alliteration… always.


Intelligence tests are biased toward the literate.

(1937 – 2008) stand-up comedian, social critic, actor & author

Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.

(1880 – 1956) journalist, essayist, editor & satirist

America is a country of inventors, and the greatest of inventors are the newspaper men.

(1847 – 1922) Scottish scientist, inventor, engineer & innovator

Longfellow is to poetry what the barrel-organ is to music.

(1886 – 1963) literary critic, biographer & historian

A dirty book is rarely dusty.

We get it, poets: Things are like other things.


In Australia, not reading poetry is the national pastime.

(1905 – 1978) American author of children’s books & poetry

Nothing conduces to brevity like a caving in of the knees.

(1809 – 1894) physician, professor, lecturer & author

Even those who call Mr. Faulkner our greatest literary sadist do not fully appreciate him, for it is not merely his characters who have to run the gauntlet but also his readers.

(1904 – 1999) author, editor, radio host

Why do writers write; because it isn't there.

(1924 – ) American novelist

I’ve never read an article of clothing.

(1973 – ) American comedian