There are three difficulties in authorship--to write anything worth
the publishing, to find honest men to publish it, and to get sensible
men to read it.--COLTON.

An author! 'Tis a venerable name!
How few deserve it, and what numbers claim!
Unblest with sense above their peers refin'd,
Who shall stand up, dictators to mankind?
Nay, who dare shine, if not in virtue's cause?
That sole proprietor of just applause.
--YOUNG.

Never write on a subject without having first read yourself full on
it; and never read on a subject till you have thought yourself hungry
on it.--RICHTER.

How many great ones may remember'd be,
Which in their days most famously did flourish,
Of whom no word we hear, nor sign now see,
But as things wip'd out with a sponge do perish,
Because the living cared not to cherish
No gentle wits, through pride or covetize,
Which might their names for ever memorize!
--SPENSER.

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things
familiar, and familiar things new.--THACKERAY.

To write well is to think well, to feel well, and to render well; it
is to possess at once intellect, soul and taste.--BUFFON.