Explore the most impactful and insightful quotes and sayings by Elmore Leonard, and enrich your perspective with the wisdom. Share these inspiring Elmore Leonard quotes pictures with your friends on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or your personal blogs, completely free. Here are the top 115 Elmore Leonard quotes for you to read and share.
Not dreams but night changes, not destiny but path changes, always keep your hopes alive, luck may or may not change, but time definitely chages. -- Elmore Leonard
When people ask me about my dialogue, I say, 'Don't you hear people talking?' That's all I do. I hear a certain type of individual, I decide this is what he should be, whatever it is, and then I hear him. Well, I don't hear anybody that I can't make talk. -- Elmore Leonard
There are some people who have been reading me for years, and they keep saying kind things about the writing. That's what you're writing for, to get people to respond to it. -- Elmore Leonard
There were a lot of terms you had to learn, as opposed to the shylock business where all you had to know how to say was 'Give me the fuckin money. -- Elmore Leonard
I started out of course with Hemingway when I learned how to write. Until I realized Hemingway doesn't have a sense of humor. He never has anything funny in his stories. -- Elmore Leonard
If a man must make excuses for himself, continually argue with himself that he is a man, then he is better off dead. -- Elmore Leonard
Quiet and calculating. He hasn't changed that much since. Always mild-mannered, the nice guy - until someone steps over the line and challenges him. -- Elmore Leonard
Raylan got ready. -- Elmore Leonard
You thinkin bout the time I shot you and you rose from the dead? It only happens once in your life." He turned to Carol again and she said:
"Were you actually aiming at his hat?"
"I hit it didn't I? -- Elmore Leonard
The truth is that the writers who most influenced me weren't people categorized as crime writers. I'd say I learned more from John O'Hara, who isn't much read today but whose short stories I really admired, and Hemingway, who I think has lasted pretty good. -- Elmore Leonard
Really, when I write a book I'm the only one I have to please. That's the beauty of writing a book instead of a screenplay. -- Elmore Leonard
I'm not aware of a cadence when writing, but I hear it after. I write in longhand, and that helps. You're closer to it, and you have to cross things out. You put a line through it, but it's still there. You might need it. When you erase a line on a computer, it's gone forever. -- Elmore Leonard
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. -- Elmore Leonard
It's like seeing someone for the first time, and you look at each other for a few seconds, and there's this kind of recognition like you both know something. Next moment the person's gone, and it's too late to do anything about it. -- Elmore Leonard
I used to be able to write five pages a day, every day, no problem. Now a good day is five or four pages, and that's from 9:30 A.M. until 6 P.M. -- Elmore Leonard
Writers - all writers, even screenwriters - like to make their mark. I don't think many screenwriters can write. They pass as writers. -- Elmore Leonard
I decided to write Westerns because there was a terrific market for Westerns in the '50s. There were a lot of pulp magazines, like 'Dime Western' and '10 Story Western' that were still being published. The better ones paid two cents a word. And I thought, 'I like Westerns.' -- Elmore Leonard
Writing on the beach is not what it's cracked up to be. The sand blows, and you perspire, and the page gets all blotty and messed up, so I don't do that anymore. -- Elmore Leonard
In the light of eternity, is it better to sell out and ride or stand up and walk? -- Elmore Leonard
God is God and He lets things happen and that's all there is to it. But He has reasons, and His reasons for something happening would be more important than a man's reason for questioning whatever it might -- Elmore Leonard
I don't think writers compete, I think they're all doing separate things in their own style. -- Elmore Leonard
I can write anywhere. But I don't use a computer, and I could never write on a laptop. I hate the sound of computers; it's too dull, like it's not doing anything for you. -- Elmore Leonard
I'm very much aware in the writing of dialogue, or even in the narrative too, of a rhythm. There has to be a rhythm with it ... Interviewers have said, you like jazz, don't you? Because we can hear it in your writing. And I thought that was a compliment. -- Elmore Leonard
Tony was a lawyer, so you had to accept the fact he was opinionated and full of shit. -- Elmore Leonard
I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted. -- Elmore Leonard
I've learned if you're ever angry enough to hit somebody, don't do it. Cool down and get yourself a pistol. -- Elmore Leonard
When I get an idea for a book, something appeals to me, it's usually a character. I'll see a picture of a female marshal in front of the courthouse in Miami and she's got a shotgun on her hip and it goes up on an angle. And she's good-looking. And I say, 'I've got to use her.' -- Elmore Leonard
Psychopaths ... people who know the differences between right and wrong, but don't give a shit. That's what most of my characters are like. -- Elmore Leonard
Writing screenplays is not my business. I've written half a dozen, and maybe half of those were made. But it was never a satisfying experience. It was just work. You're an employee. You would be told what to do. Studio execs would cross out my dialogue and put in their dialogue. -- Elmore Leonard
A man can be in two different places and he will be two different men. Maybe if you think of more places he will be more men, but two is enough for now. -- Elmore Leonard
I never see my bad guys as simply bad. They want pretty much the same thing that you and I want: they want to be happy. -- Elmore Leonard
When you're really cute that's all you have to be, you make a career out of it. someone asks you what you do, you say, 'nothing. i'm cute. -- Elmore Leonard
I think the best advice I give is to try not to write. Try not to overwrite, try not to make it sound too good. Just use your own voice. Use your own style of putting it down. -- Elmore Leonard
I got halfway through 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.' I don't get it at all. What's the big thrill? It's boring. -- Elmore Leonard
Never use an adverb to modify the verb 'said' ... he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. -- Elmore Leonard
Using adverbs is a mortal sin. -- Elmore Leonard
If you take a few days to write an outline, you're just making up scenes that you think will work, that you think will be interesting. But as you write it, other ideas occur - better ideas that have to do with what you're writing. -- Elmore Leonard
I always felt, you don't have a good time doin crime, you may as well find a job. -- Elmore Leonard
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. -- Elmore Leonard
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. -- Elmore Leonard
I try to leave out the parts readers skip. -- Elmore Leonard
There are 500 million people on Facebook, but what are they saying to each other? Not much. -- Elmore Leonard
A wife's faithful to her husband, subject to him. It's in the bible. -- Elmore Leonard
I want you to understand," Raylan said, "I don't pull my sidearm 'less I'm gonna shoot to kill. That's its purpose, huh, to kill. So it's how I use it. -- Elmore Leonard
My characters have to talk, or they're out. They audition in early scenes. If they can't talk, they're given less to do, or thrown out. -- Elmore Leonard
All the information you need can be given in dialogue. -- Elmore Leonard
It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does. -- Elmore Leonard
What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice. -- Elmore Leonard
And she thought if you don't have the desire to fight or wait for something there's no reason for being on earth. -- Elmore Leonard
A: Anyone who looks like she does has to be somebody ...
B: What does she look like?
A: An ice cream. I had a spoon I would have eaten her. -- Elmore Leonard
I don't get in a position to be frightened. I don't do anything dangerous, and I always pay my bills. -- Elmore Leonard
Bones turned a page, read down the entries and stopped.
"You got a miss. Guy's six weeks over."
"He died," Chili said.
"How you know he died, he tell you. -- Elmore Leonard
After 58 years you'd think writing would get easier. It doesn't. If you're lucky, you become harder to please. That's all right, it's still a pleasure. -- Elmore Leonard
Yeah, ESP," Juvenal said. "You know how you do it? You listen to the other person instead of thinking of what you're gonna say next. That's all, and you learn things. -- Elmore Leonard
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.' -- Elmore Leonard
To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing. -- Elmore Leonard
"Wonderful things can happen", Vincent said, "when you plant seeds of distrust in a garden of assholes." -- Elmore Leonard
Boyd looked at him now like he was trying to decide something in his mind.
"You'd shoot me, you get the chance?"
"You make me pull," Raylan said, "I'll put you down. -- Elmore Leonard
Fate was working its ass off when it got us all together. -- Elmore Leonard
She said very quietly, "Mitch?" "What?" "There's somebody downstairs." "I know there is. -- Elmore Leonard
I don't want to write any more screenplays, I'll tell you that right now. It's a waste of time. You've got too many people who think they have the answer to a good screenplay and they don't. No one knows. -- Elmore Leonard
People ask me, 'Why are you still writing books?' Like I'm still only writing to make money and as soon as I have enough I'll quit and go fishing? I like to write books. It's the most satisfying thing I do. -- Elmore Leonard
Sometimes female characters start out as the wife or girlfriend, but then I realize, 'No, she's the book,' and she becomes a main character. I surrender the book to her. -- Elmore Leonard
I'm not going to write for posterity. I'm going to write to make a buck. -- Elmore Leonard
I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative. -- Elmore Leonard
I thought I explained it to you. Boyd and I dug coal together. -- Elmore Leonard
He called out to no one in particular, Fire in the Hole! -- Elmore Leonard
She wondered what he looked like with his hat off and wondered again if he knew he was funny. -- Elmore Leonard
Late in the afternoon the sky changed to pale gray and there was rain in the air, the atmosphere close and stifling, and a silence clung heavily to the flat colorless plain. -- Elmore Leonard
Don't interrupt a man when he's giving himself hell. -- Elmore Leonard
Do you want me to tell you what I give a shit about at age sixty-five', Cullen said, 'and what I don't give a shit about?'
(page 262) -- Elmore Leonard
A pen connects you to the paper. It definitely matters. -- Elmore Leonard
You never know what somebody might tell you,' Chris said, 'when they think you're somebody else. -- Elmore Leonard
There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries. -- Elmore Leonard
I think any writer is a fool if he doesn't do it for money. There needs to be some kind of incentive in addition to the project. It all goes together. It's fun to sit there and think of characters and get them into action, then be paid for it. -- Elmore Leonard
If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it. -- Elmore Leonard
All over the world ... the past was being wiped out by condominiums. -- Elmore Leonard
It's my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing. -- Elmore Leonard
If I just sit here, what am I going to do? I don't have a trade. I don't teach or anything. I just love to make up characters and gradually build a story around them. -- Elmore Leonard
I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back. -- Elmore Leonard
I don't want the reader to be aware of me as the writer. -- Elmore Leonard
There's something happening here, I know it. It's right in front of my face, but I just can't see it. -- Elmore Leonard
If you're going to spend your life standing on principle, you want to be sure everyone understands what the principle is. -- Elmore Leonard
Leave out the parts that readers tend to skip. -- Elmore Leonard
I won't read a book that starts with a description of the weather. I don't read books over 300 pages, though I'll make an exception for Don Delillo. -- Elmore Leonard
Avoid Prologues. They can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. -- Elmore Leonard
Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language. -- Elmore Leonard
It took me 20 years to buy an electric typewriter, because I was afraid it would be too sensitive. I like to bang the keys. I'm doing action stories, so that's the way I like to do it. -- Elmore Leonard
He saw Harvey and Edgar catch each other's eye as he looked off toward the strains of "Alley Cat," Jesus, hoping they'd rush it faster than the others or he'd have to get out of here. It was the only song he knew that made him want to break something. -- Elmore Leonard
Skip the boring parts. -- Elmore Leonard
He watched the eternity of the sky. The dark was restful, but the vastness was cold and made you draw something close to you. -- Elmore Leonard
If I have several bad guys and I only want to end up with one of them, then I have to decide which one I want in the end. And normally it's the one who is the most interesting talker. -- Elmore Leonard
I don't believe in writer's block. I don't know what that is. There are just certain little areas that I know I'm going to get through. It's just a matter of finding a way. -- Elmore Leonard
I still read Hemingway. I still read his short stories because they're so good. He doesn't waste any words. -- Elmore Leonard
Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write. -- Elmore Leonard
At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about. -- Elmore Leonard
I don't have any of the modern stuff. I don't have e-mail. I don't have a computer! -- Elmore Leonard
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, -- Elmore Leonard
My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: When you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip. -- Elmore Leonard
The personality and the ego scream, while the soul whispers. -- Elmore Leonard
I don't have any of the modern electronics at all. I know the Internet would be a distraction. I would see things that interested me and never get back to writing. -- Elmore Leonard
Try not to write the parts that people skip. -- Elmore Leonard
I once saw Dizzy Gillespie at a live show, and it made me want to go home immediately and start writing. -- Elmore Leonard
Write the book the way it should be written, then give it to somebody to put in the commas and shit. -- Elmore Leonard
Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. -- Elmore Leonard
I don't believe in writer's block or waiting for inspiration. If you're a writer, you sit down and write. -- Elmore Leonard
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite. -- Elmore Leonard
Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.' -- Elmore Leonard
To me, writing is the most fun. It's not always fun, but finally when you make it come out the way you want, it's then you can say, 'It's fun, boy.' -- Elmore Leonard
I have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it. -- Elmore Leonard
Bad guys are not bad guys twenty-four hours a day. -- Elmore Leonard
The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. -- Elmore Leonard
The bad guys are the fun guys. The only people I have trouble with are the so-called normal types. Their language isn't very colorful, and they don't talk with any certain sound. -- Elmore Leonard
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. -- Elmore Leonard
I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books. -- Elmore Leonard
