“Well, I'm like a drug addict, I'm always saying I'm going to stop, and then I don't, what I've said consistently is that I hope I know when to stop: when it starts to get repetitive.”
Hope
“I never saw any of my dad's stories. My mother said he had piles and piles of manuscripts.”
DadAll Quotes by Stephen King
“The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.”
Trust“I love the movies, and when I go to see a movie that's been made from one of my books, I know that it isn't going to be exactly like my novel because a lot of other people have interpreted it. But I also know it has an idea that I'll like because that idea occurred to me, and I spent a year, or a year and a half of my life working on it.”
Movies“We've switched from a culture that was interested in manufacturing, economics, politics - trying to play a serious part in the world - to a culture that's really entertainment-based.”
Politics“But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it's all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can't change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.”
Change“I can remember being home from school with tonsillitis and writing stories in bed to pass the time.”
Home“I never saw any of my dad's stories. My mother said he had piles and piles of manuscripts.”
Dad“Like anything else that happens on its own, the act of writing is beyond currency. Money is great stuff to have, but when it comes to the act of creation, the best thing is not to think of money too much. It constipates the whole process.”
Best“Talent in cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”
Work“Americans are apocalyptic by nature. The reason why is that we've always had so much, so we live in deadly fear that people are going to take it away from us.”
Fear“Fiction is the truth inside the lie.”
Truth“When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, 'Why god? Why me?' and the thundering voice of God answered, 'There's just something about you that pisses me off.'”
Family“We like to think about how smart we are. But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it's all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can't change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.”
Change“You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.”
Hope“Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones.”
Good“French is the language that turns dirt into romance.”
Romantic“And in real life endings aren't always neat, whether they're happy endings, or whether they're sad endings.”
Sad“I was in enough to get along with people. I was never socially inarticulate. Not a loner. And that saved my life, saved my sanity. That and the writing. But to this day I distrust anybody who thought school was a good time. Anybody.”
Good“I've always believed in God. I also think that's the sort of thing that either comes as part of the equipment, the capacity to believe, or at some point in your life, when you're in a position where you actually need help from a power greater than yourself, you simply make an agreement.”
God“It's a mystery. That's the first thing that interests me about the idea of God. If there is one, it's mysterious and powerful and awesome to even consider the concept, and you have to take it seriously.”
God