Top Elmore Leonard Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

Elmore Leonard Biography

Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925 – August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.

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Elmore Leonard Quotes

I don't have any of the modern stuff. I don't have e-mail. I don't have a computer!

Computer, Mail, Modern, Stuff

There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.

Like, Mind, Nothing, Work, Worries, Worry

I once saw Dizzy Gillespie at a live show, and it made me want to go home immediately and start writing.

Dizzy, Home, Start, Want, Writing

I don't want the reader to be aware of me as the writer.

Aware, Reader, Want, Writer, Writing

If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it.

Good, Good Things, Ifs, Let, Rich, Work

Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.

Allowed, Exclamation, Exclamation Points, Three, Two, Writing

I get letters. I get several a week, I think. A lot of people want a picture, a lot of people just want an autograph.

Thinking, People, Letters, Several, Picture

It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.

Doe, Make, Make Sense, Sense, Sound

I don't judge in my books. I don't have to have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It's just how it comes out. I'm just telling a story.

Book, Judge, Story, Telling, Winning, Writing

My purpose is to entertain and please myself. I feel that if I am entertained, then there will be enough other readers who will be entertained, too.

Enough, Please, Purpose, Reader

What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.

Eye, Eyes, Man, Men, Nothing, Two

I don't believe in writer's block or waiting for inspiration. If you're a writer, you sit down and write.

Believe, Block, Inspiration, Sit, Waiting, Write

I'm not going to write for posterity. I'm going to write to make a buck.

Bucks, Make, Posterity, Write, Writing

I don’t think writers compete, I think they’re all doing separate things in their own style.

Compete, Separate, Style, Think, Thinking, Writers

Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. . . I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with "she asseverated" and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.

Line, Noticed, Reading, Verb, Verbs, Writing

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

Confusing, Dialogue, Given, Information, Needs, Writing

I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted.

Boat, Boats, Booze, Broads, Dough, Rest

These are rules I've picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the story.

Book, Help, Rules, Stories, Taking, Writing

Never open a book with weather. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.

Book, Ice, Open, Snow, Ways, Weather

I do have fun writing, and a long time ago, I told myself, 'You got to have fun at this, or it'll drive you nuts. '

Fun, Writing, Nuts, Time, Told

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