Subject: Communication » Reading/Writing (Page 15)

She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit.

(1874 – 1965) English dramatist & novelist
Communication Reading/Writing

Plagiarism: Failure to adorn stolen ideas with footnotes, as opposed to scholarship, which repeatedly acknowledges the theft.

Definitions Ideas Reading/Writing

He would stab his best friend for the sake of writing an epigram on his tombstone.

(1854 – 1900) Irish dramatist, novelist & poet
Insults Reading/Writing

The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything.

(1826 – 1877) English economist & journalist
Books Communication Reading/Writing

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

(1886 – 1963) literary critic, biographer & historian
Insults Music Reading/Writing

We should develop anti-satellite weapons because we could not have prevailed without them in 'Red Storm Rising.'

(1947 – ) U.S. vice president & politician
Arms Books Communication Reading/Writing Things

I’m writing an unauthorized autobiography.

(1955 – ) comedian, actor & writer
Books Communication Reading/Writing

I was so long writing my review that I never got around to reading the book.

(1890 – 1977) comedian, actor & television host
Books Communication Reading/Writing Reviews/Criticism

Dictum on television scripts: We don't want it good – we want it Tuesday.

(1922 – ) English comedy writer & television presenter
Communication Entertainment Reading/Writing Television

If at first you don’t succeed, read the manual.

Murphy’s Laws Reading/Writing

If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that’s read by persons who move their lips when they’re reading to themselves.

(1878 – 1937) humorist, journalist & author
Communication Reading/Writing

The road to hell is paved with adverbs.

(1947 – ) novelist, screenwriter
Communication Language Reading/Writing Things

Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.


Communication Reading/Writing

Bill wrote a book at Yale; I read one.

(1946 – ) 43rd U.S. president
Books Communication Reading/Writing

Virginia Woolf’s writing is no more than glamorous knitting; I believe she must have a pattern somewhere.

(1887 – 1964) English biographer, critic, novelist & poet
Insults Reading/Writing

My spelling is wobbly; it’s good spelling but it wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.

fictional character from the book series by A. A. Milne
Communication Language Reading/Writing

He uses a lot of big words, and his sentences are from here to the airport.

(1947 – ) American writer & populist political activist
Reading/Writing Reviews/Criticism

If you had a million Shakespeares, could they write like a monkey?


Communication Reading/Writing

I love being a writer; what I can't stand is the paperwork.

(1910 – 1993) editor & novelist
Communication Reading/Writing

I never read a book before reviewing it; it prejudices a man so.

(1771 – 1845) English writer & Anglican clergyman
Books Communication Reading/Writing

Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.

(1878 – 1937) humorist, journalist & author
Books Communication Reading/Writing