Browse 12 quotations connecting Arthur Quiller-Couch with Writing, 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.
“I most potently believe that the very best writing, in verse or in prose, can only be produced in moments of high excitement”
Quiller-Couch argues that exceptional writing can depend on heightened imaginative concentration, a literary-critical claim he pairs with the need for daily preparation.
Source note: On The Art of Reading, Lecture V, Project Gutenberg #16579; this is Quiller-Couch’s aesthetic judgment, not a universal psychological rule for composition.
“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.
“Murder your darlings.”
The memorable command advises writers to delete showy passages they love when those passages serve vanity or ornament more than the work as a whole.
Source note: On the Art of Writing, Lecture XII, “On Style,” Project Gutenberg #17470; the phrase concludes Quiller-Couch’s warning against purchased or extraneous ornament.
“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.
“Style, for example, is not—can never be—extraneous Ornament.”
Style is separated from decoration added after the fact; effective prose should grow from the thought, purpose, voice and structure of the writing itself.
Source note: On the Art of Writing, Lecture XII, “On Style,” Project Gutenberg #17470; typographic dashes are normalized from the represented plain-text edition.
“Jargon, which is not so much bad writing as the avoidance of writing.”
Jargon is criticized as evasive language that circles around meaning instead of doing the harder work of choosing direct, responsible words.
Source note: On the Art of Writing, Lecture VI, Project Gutenberg #17470; Quiller-Couch is recalling the preceding lecture’s argument about jargon and prose.
“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.
“The first virtue, the touchstone of a masculine style, is its use of the active verb and the concrete noun.”
Behind the dated gendered phrase, the practical craft advice is to prefer active verbs and concrete nouns when they make prose more direct and intelligible.
Source note: On the Art of Writing, Lecture V, “Interlude: On Jargon,” Project Gutenberg #17470. “Masculine style” is retained as period wording, not endorsed as a gender standard.
“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.