On this wet, monochromatic Monday, I find myself wanting to write, but not quite knowing where to begin. Whenever I need a creative push, I turn to the works of others for inspiration, and so I share with all of you a few lovely, funny, thought-provoking quotes about writing. (A shout-out to Goodreads.com for the useful search engine that helped me find these.)

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” —Anton Chekhov

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” —Anaïs Nin

“I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me, and my enquiry is as to their working, and my problem is their subjugation and victory, down throw and upheaval, and my effort is their self-expression.” —Dylan Thomas

“One glance at [a book] and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you…Books break the shackles of time—proof that humans can work magic.” —Carl Sagan

“A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar.” —Stephen King

“Write what should not be forgotten.” —Isabel Allende

“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” —Mark Twain

“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories—science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.” —Ray Bradbury

“I hate writing. I love having written.” —Dorothy Parker

And because so much great writing is ultimately about love, in one form or another, I leave you with three quotes on that subject. (Who knew Einstein was so saucy?):

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.” —William Shakespeare 

“Love consists of this: two solitudes that meet, protect and greet each other.” —Rainer Maria Rilke

“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.” —Albert Einstein