Quote

The writer learns to write, in the last resort, only by writing. He must get words onto paper even if he is dissatisfied with them.

Paul Johnson

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Paul Johnson
Age: 96
Born: 1928
Born: November 2
Editor
Historian
Journalist
Speechwriter
Writer
Manchester
England
Paul Bede Johnson
Words
Resort
Write
Resorts
Must
Learns
Writing
Onto
Even
Paper
Writer
Lasts
Last
Dissatisfied

More quotes by Paul Johnson

Image
Human beings are infinitely worth studying, especially the peculiarities that often go along with outstanding gifts.
Paul Johnson
Image
Long periods of recession, which tend to be self-perpetuating, are usually ended by war, or by preparations for it.
Paul Johnson
Image
The word 'meaningful' when used today is nearly always meaningless.
Paul Johnson
Image
In the long term, it is desirable that the human race, faced with the prospect of extinction on Earth, should prepare an escape route for itself to another inhabitable planet.
Paul Johnson
Image
I like that lady - Sarah Palin. She's great. I like the cut of her jib.
Paul Johnson
Image
There are no inevitabilities in history
Paul Johnson
Image
The Second World War took place not so much because no one won the First, but because the Versailles Treaty did not acknowledge this truth.
Paul Johnson
Image
If we want foxes, to observe and delight in, we must have hunting.
Paul Johnson
Image
A Stalin functionary admitted, Innocent people were arrested: naturally - otherwise no one would be frightened. If people were arrested only for specific misdemeanours, all the others would feel safe and so become ripe for treason.
Paul Johnson
Image
My grandfather used to say, Learn to like art, music and literature deeply and passionately. They will be your friends when things are bad. It is true: at this time of year, when days are short and dark, and one hardly dares to open the newspapers, I turn, not vainly either, to the great creators of the past for distraction, solace and help.
Paul Johnson
Image
Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down.
Paul Johnson
Image
The most evil person I ever met was a toss-up between Pablo Picasso and the publisher-crook Robert Maxwell.
Paul Johnson
Image
This book is dedicated to the people of America--strong, outspoken, intense in their convictions, sometimes wrong-headed but always generous and brave, with a passion for justice no nation has ever matched.
Paul Johnson
Image
I don't write huge books any more. I used to write 1,000 printed pages, but now I write short books. I did one on Napoleon, 50,000 words - enjoyed doing that. He was a baddie. I did one on Churchill, which was a bestseller in New York, I'm glad to say. 50,000 words. He was a goodie.
Paul Johnson
Image
You know you're an Arizona native when you have to look up mass transit in the dictionary.
Paul Johnson
Image
Nothing appeals to intellectuals more than the feeling that they represent 'the people'. Nothing, as a rule, is further from the truth
Paul Johnson
Image
If I see a door ajar, I push on it to see how far it will open, and if it opens wide I go through it.
Paul Johnson
Image
As the CIA and KGB, like God and Satan, fight Miltonic battles across five continents.
Paul Johnson
Image
I've been having an affair, but I still believe in family values.
Paul Johnson
Image
If anti-Semitism is a variety of racism, it is a most peculiar variety, with many unique characteristics. In my view as a historian, it is so peculiar that it deserves to be placed in a quite different category. I would call it an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive.
Paul Johnson