Browse 7 quotations connecting Arthur Quiller-Couch with Effort, with meanings, source notes and related themes.
Each quotation is included because its central idea connects with this theme, not simply because one matching word appears in the sentence.
Sources represented here include On the Art of Writing, On The Art of Reading. Keeping the work and source note beside each quotation makes differences in setting, speaker and emphasis easier to see.
Sources represented here include On the Art of Writing, On The Art of Reading.
“These crests only rise on the back of constant labour.”
Peak creative moments are described as resting on repeated labor, rejecting the idea that successful writing can be separated from sustained preparation.
Source note: On The Art of Reading, Lecture V, Project Gutenberg #16579; “crests” refers to exceptional moments of successful writing described immediately before.
“So, in writing, only out of long preparation can come the truly triumphant flash”
The sudden-looking breakthrough is placed at the end of preparation rather than outside it: memorable execution is supported by work accumulated beforehand.
Source note: On The Art of Reading, Lecture V, Project Gutenberg #16579; excerpted from Quiller-Couch’s analogy between writing practice and concentrated performance.
“And on top of this let me assure you that in writing, or learning to write, solid daily practice is the prescription and 'waiting upon inspiration' a lure.”
Quiller-Couch puts dependable practice ahead of waiting for inspiration, making regular work the ordinary foundation from which stronger moments can emerge.
Source note: On The Art of Reading, Lecture V, Project Gutenberg #16579; the surrounding analogy connects disciplined reading with the harder sister art of writing.
“Literature is a living art, to be practised.”
The short formulation emphasizes that literary skill develops through use and practice rather than through passive admiration of established works alone.
Source note: On the Art of Writing, Lecture XII, “On Style,” Project Gutenberg #17470; excerpted from Quiller-Couch’s summary of the course.
“Literature is not a mere Science, to be studied; but an Art, to be practised.”
Quiller-Couch treats literature as an active craft: serious understanding should eventually lead beyond analysis into the disciplined practice of making language.
Source note: On the Art of Writing, Preface, Project Gutenberg #17470; the sentence states the central premise of the Cambridge lecture series.
“We may not be capable of much; but we can all write better than that, if we take a little trouble.”
Improvement is framed as practical rather than mystical: even modest writers can remove avoidable weakness when they slow down and revise deliberately.
Source note: On the Art of Writing, Lecture V, “Interlude: On Jargon,” Project Gutenberg #17470; Quiller-Couch contrasts direct prose with inflated official phrasing.
“That you must master the secret for yourselves lay implicit in our bargain, and you were never promised that a writer's training would be easy.”
Learning to write is presented as demanding practice rather than a shortcut: difficulty belongs to the training and does not by itself signal failure.
Source note: On the Art of Writing, Lecture XII, “On Style,” Project Gutenberg #17470; excerpted from Quiller-Couch’s reminder that students must master craft for themselves.