Elmore Leonard quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Elmore Leonard on Wise Famous Quotes.

I have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it.

I once saw Dizzy Gillespie at a live show, and it made me want to go home immediately and start writing.

My purpose is to entertain and please myself. I feel that if I am entertained, then there will be enough other readers who will be entertained, too.

He called out to no one in particular, Fire in the Hole!

Leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.

I do have fun writing, and a long time ago, I told myself, 'You got to have fun at this, or it'll drive you nuts.'

I don't judge in my books. I don't have to have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It's just how it comes out. I'm just telling a story.

Don't interrupt a man when he's giving himself hell.

I still read Hemingway. I still read his short stories because they're so good. He doesn't waste any words.

Quiet and calculating. He hasn't changed that much since. Always mild-mannered, the nice guy - until someone steps over the line and challenges him.

A wife's faithful to her husband, subject to him. It's in the bible.

Fate was working its ass off when it got us all together.

Skip the boring parts.

I try to leave out the parts readers skip.

What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.

You never know what somebody might tell you,' Chris said, 'when they think you're somebody else.

Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.

I used to be able to write five pages a day, every day, no problem. Now a good day is five or four pages, and that's from 9:30 A.M. until 6 P.M.

I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.

My characters have to talk, or they're out. They audition in early scenes. If they can't talk, they're given less to do, or thrown out.

I don't get in a position to be frightened. I don't do anything dangerous, and I always pay my bills.

I get letters. I get several a week, I think. A lot of people want a picture, a lot of people just want an autograph.

It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.

All over the world ... the past was being wiped out by condominiums.

Psychopaths ... people who know the differences between right and wrong, but don't give a shit. That's what most of my characters are like.

It's my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing.

Not dreams but night changes, not destiny but path changes, always keep your hopes alive, luck may or may not change, but time definitely chages.

My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: When you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.

A: Anyone who looks like she does has to be somebody ...
B: What does she look like?
A: An ice cream. I had a spoon I would have eaten her.

I've learned if you're ever angry enough to hit somebody, don't do it. Cool down and get yourself a pistol.

I don't think writers compete, I think they're all doing separate things in their own style.

Really, when I write a book I'm the only one I have to please. That's the beauty of writing a book instead of a screenplay.

To me, writing is the most fun. It's not always fun, but finally when you make it come out the way you want, it's then you can say, 'It's fun, boy.'

Writers - all writers, even screenwriters - like to make their mark. I don't think many screenwriters can write. They pass as writers.

Do you want me to tell you what I give a shit about at age sixty-five', Cullen said, 'and what I don't give a shit about?'
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The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.

I always felt, you don't have a good time doin crime, you may as well find a job.

She wondered what he looked like with his hat off and wondered again if he knew he was funny.

I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.

I never see my bad guys as simply bad. They want pretty much the same thing that you and I want: they want to be happy.

And she thought if you don't have the desire to fight or wait for something there's no reason for being on earth.

Avoid Prologues. They can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword.

If a man must make excuses for himself, continually argue with himself that he is a man, then he is better off dead.

Bad guys are not bad guys twenty-four hours a day.

He watched the eternity of the sky. The dark was restful, but the vastness was cold and made you draw something close to you.

In the light of eternity, is it better to sell out and ride or stand up and walk?

If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it.

When you're really cute that's all you have to be, you make a career out of it. someone asks you what you do, you say, 'nothing. i'm cute.

Raylan got ready.

There were a lot of terms you had to learn, as opposed to the shylock business where all you had to know how to say was 'Give me the fuckin money.

Try not to write the parts that people skip.

Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language.

There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.

I don't want the reader to be aware of me as the writer.

I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite.

Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'

I'm not going to write for posterity. I'm going to write to make a buck.

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

There's something happening here, I know it. It's right in front of my face, but I just can't see it.

I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted.

I won't read a book that starts with a description of the weather. I don't read books over 300 pages, though I'll make an exception for Don Delillo.

I don't believe in writer's block or waiting for inspiration. If you're a writer, you sit down and write.

Tony was a lawyer, so you had to accept the fact he was opinionated and full of shit.

To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing.

I thought I explained it to you. Boyd and I dug coal together.

"Wonderful things can happen", Vincent said, "when you plant seeds of distrust in a garden of assholes."

There are 500 million people on Facebook, but what are they saying to each other? Not much.

Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.

I got halfway through 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.' I don't get it at all. What's the big thrill? It's boring.

I don't have any of the modern stuff. I don't have e-mail. I don't have a computer!

If you're going to spend your life standing on principle, you want to be sure everyone understands what the principle is.

Write the book the way it should be written, then give it to somebody to put in the commas and shit.

The personality and the ego scream, while the soul whispers.

A pen connects you to the paper. It definitely matters.

Using adverbs is a mortal sin.

She said very quietly, "Mitch?" "What?" "There's somebody downstairs." "I know there is.