3 Non-Writing Quotes for Writers
It’s easy to find troves of writing-related quotes on the internet. These little tidbits can be inspirational or helpful or engaging, but there’s so much more out there. I’ve compiled three non-writing related quotes that are nonetheless motivating for aspiring writers.
The first quote comes from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The 2019 film is the best entry in the army of Spider-Man adaptions we’ve seen in years and has a very powerful quote related to writing:
Miles Morales: How will I know I’m ready?
Peter B. Parker: You won’t. It’s a leap of faith. That’s all it is, Miles. A leap of faith.
Writing is an imprecise art. One of the best things you can do to grow as a writer is to let your work go. Post an article on Medium. Submit a short story to a literary magazine and see if you can get notes. Find a writer’s group, whatever you do get out there. It’s easy to look at your work and see nothing but flaws. But you can only play around with your syntax for so long before it becomes procrastination rather than productivity. Sometimes, you need to take a leap of faith.
Next is a quote from Bojack Horseman, one of my favorite TV shows ever:
It gets easier. Every day it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day — that’s the hard part. But it does get easier.
One of the most common pieces of writing advice you’ll receive is to write every day. Every single day. That’s what I do, though I must admit I find the advice itself overrated. It might not work for you. You might physically not have the time in the day, or your job leaves you so worn out that it’s best to only write on your days off.
This quote can apply to those people too. Whatever writing habits you’re trying to build, be it a little every day or a big block on the weekend, will be hard at first. But with persistence, it’s easier every single day.
Finally, this quote is a little bigger. It comes from Faker, considered the greatest League of Legends player ever.
In order to become a legend, you have to take down somebody like me, many times.
I do want to note that this quote needs some context. Writing is not a war front. I repeat, you’re not competing with your fellow writers. If your only goal in writing is to usurp everybody else, then you’ll run out of steam.
I focus on the “many times” part of the quote. Anybody can write one good article, something that gets picked up by the distribution gods of Medium or sweeps to the top of Google. But becoming a great writer means you keep grinding. Figure out why that article worked, figure out what you did right, then do it again.
And again.
And again.
This quote might not be for every writer, and that’s fine. If writing is a hobby, you might not feel compelled to grind like that, to write like you’re trying to secure something. But if you are, then remember: Don’t stop at one victory. Be proud of what you’ve accomplished. Let yourself enjoy your success, but remember to look for the next peak.
