Stephen King quotes are often poignant and insightful, and they never fail to capture the essence of the topic at hand. Stephen King is a master of the written word, and his quotes are no exception.
Stephen King is one of the most popular and successful authors of all time. One of his most famous works is “The Shining,” a novel about a family who becomes trapped in a haunted hotel.
What makes “The Shining” so successful is the way that King uses his creative writing skills to create a truly suspenseful and frightening story.
Creative writing is one of the most powerful tools in King’s arsenal. It allows him to tap into the subconscious and create truly horrifying images and scenes. It also allows him to explore the darker side of human nature, and to create complex characters that are both believable and relatable.
More than 350 million copies of his books have been sold, and many have been adapted into films, television series, miniseries, and comic books. King has published 64 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, as well as five non-fiction books. Approximately 200 of his short stories have been published in book collections.
Check out some of Stephen King quotes below. You won’t be disappointed.
Stephen King quotes on Writing and Books
- “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
2. “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
3. “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
4. “Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn’t carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”
5. “Good books don’t give up all their secrets at once.”
6. “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.”
7. “Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe.”
8. “To write is human, to edit is divine.”
9. “Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. … The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.”
10. “Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”
11. “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
12. “Speaking personally, you can have my gun, but you’ll take my book when you pry my cold, dead fingers off of the binding.”
13. “Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different.”
14. “Reading in bed can be heaven, assuming you can get just the right amount of light on the page and aren’t prone to spilling your coffee or cognac on the sheets. ”
15. “A short story is a different thing altogether – a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger.”
16. “You want to remember that while you’re judging the book, the book is also judging you.”
17. “Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life.”
18. “When it comes to the past, everyone writes fiction.”
19. “I write to find out what I think.”
20. “There are books full of great writing that don’t have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story… don’t be like the book-snobs who won’t do that. Read sometimes for the words–the language. Don’t be like the play-it-safers who won’t do that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book.”
21. “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”
22. “Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.”
23. “We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.”
24. “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.”
25. “Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot if difference. They don’t have to makes speeches. Just believing is usually enough.”
26. “Writers remember everything…especially the hurts. Strip a writer to the buff, point to the scars, and he’ll tell you the story of each small one. From the big ones you get novels. A little talent is a nice thing to have if you want to be a writer, but the only real requirement is the ability to remember the story of every scar. Art consists of the persistence of memory.”
Inspirational Stephen King Quotes
27. “Quiet people have the loudest minds.”
28. “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
29. “Get busy living or get busy dying.”
30. “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.”
31. “Hearts can break. Yes, hearts can break. Sometimes I think it would be better if we died when they did, but we don’t.”
32. The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
33. “Humor is almost always anger with its make-up on.”
34. “FEAR stands for fuck everything and run.”
35. “Perfect paranoia is perfect awareness.”
36. “Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”
37. “People don’t get better, they just get smarter. When you get smarter you don’t stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it.”
38. “It was the possibility of darkness that made the day seem so bright.”
39. “Friends don’t spy; true friendship is about privacy, too.”
40. “you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”
41. “We lie best when we lie to ourselves.”
42. “It’s strange how pain marks our faces, and makes us look like family.”
43. “If you liked being a teenager, there’s something really wrong with you.”
44. “Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman’s got to hold on to.”
Thought-provoking Stephen King Quotes
45. “Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not.”
46. “Remember, Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
47. “A person can’t change all at once.”
48. “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
49. “Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.”
50. “Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.”
51. “People who try hard to do the right thing always seem mad.”
52. “Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.”
53. “We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.”
54. “Talent is a wonderful thing, but it won’t carry a quitter. ”
55. “We’re here to fuck shit up”
56. “If I kept saying it; if I kept reaching out. My accident really taught me just one thing: the only way to go on is to go on. To say ‘I can do this’ even when you know you can’t.”
57. “The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn’t real. I know that, and I also know that if I’m careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle.”
58. “Sometimes there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation.”
59. “Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.”
60. “The mind can calculate, but the spirit yearns, and the heart knows what the heart knows”
61. “A coward judges all he sees by what he is.”
62. “High school isn’t a very important place. When you’re going you think it’s a big deal, but when it’s over nobody really thinks it was great unless they’re beered up.”