Quotes by : John Gardner

Self pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives....

Real suspense comes with moral dilemma and the courage to make and act upon choices. False suspense comes....

What do you call the Hrothgar-wrecker when Hrothgar has been wrecked?

The point is, whether or not they show it at dinner parties, writers learn, by a necessity of their trade,....

God be kind to all good Samaritans and also bad ones. For such is the kingdom of heaven.

As every writer knows... there is something mysterious about the writer's ability, on any given day,....

The true artist plays mad with his soul, labors at the very lip of the volcano, but remembers and clings....

Like other kinds of intelligence, the storyteller's is partlynatural, partly trained. It is composed....

Mastery is not something that strikes in an instant, like a thunderbolt, but a gathering power that moves....

He must shape simultaneously (in an expanding creative moment) his characters, plot, and setting, each....