"I used to worry about [negative criticism of my work] until I realized that if you look at the great attacks on literature in the last hundred years or so, they were almost all carried out by people who had not read the work in question."

"I encourage writers to not look at their reviews, and I usually don't." (artist)

"The writer who wants to tap the larger truth in himself must reflect the temptations of Joyce or Camus or Tennessee Williams, as exhibited in the literary reviews.  He must forget the money waiting for him in mass-circulation.  He must ask himself, 'What do I really think of the world, what do I love, fear, hate?' and begin to pour this on paper." (artist)

"A review is someone performing thinking, and our finest reviewers are, to my mind, no less remarkable than our finest atheletes."

"Remember that pianist who said that if he did not practice every day he would know, if he did not practice for two days, the critics would know, after three days, his audiences would know.  A variation of this is true for writers."

"We suffered then, as now, from the à priori critic. Just as nowadays [the critic] goes about declaring that the work of such-and-such a dramatist is all very amusing and delightful, but 'it isn’t a Play,' so we had a great deal of talk about the short story, and found ourselves measured by all kinds of arbitrary standards. There was a tendency to treat the short story as though it was as definable a form as the sonnet, instead of being just exactly what anyone of courage and imagination can get told in twenty minutes’ reading or so."

What is success in the 21st century? It's novels that invent their own unique form, spring from a personal place, enact a passionate intent, and prove it by reaching a broad readership. It's both great reviews and great sales. It's moving hearts and changing minds. It's winning accolades and winning the devotion of readers. It's finding a way through your fiction to convey what you alone see, yet we all come to accept as the truth.

"Jane [helped me to learn to] shrug off snide reviews—from journalists ro readers.  Doing so enables me not to waste writing time fretting over the opinions of others."

"Some books, because [Stephen King] has a critical following, people tear apart—but the next book might be considered an instant classic.  He's not afraid."

"I should like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

"Why am I getting critically reviewed, a lot of award nominations, a lot of recognition, but [not] selling?  What I started realizing was, I wasn't branded.  I just didn't have a big enough audience."

"The artists who want to be writers, read the reviews; the artists who want to write, don't."

"Protect your voice and your vision.  Protect it—and if going on the Internet and reading Internet reviews is bad for you, don't do it.  It's awfully rough right now.  It's a jungle out there.  Do what gets you to write, and not what blocks you."

"I never read those reviews."

"If your readers aren't .... using words like, 'wow,' 'incredible' and 'amazing,' then you're probably not taking the reader to an emotionally satisfying extreme.  Extreme joy and pleasure is a required reading experience if you want to turn readers into fans, and turn fans into super fans.  Wow books turn readers into evangelists."