You think that an artist's job is to speak the truth. An artist's job is to captivate you for however long we've asked for your attention. If we stumble into truth, we got lucky, and we don't get to decide what truth is.
Tabatha Fortis, The West Wing, 'The U.S. Poet Laureate'.

The voices. I can't stop them. They come when I sleep, when I wake, when I sup, when I walk down a hall. The sweet longings of a maiden, the surging ambitions of a courtier, the foul designs of a murderer, the wretched pleas of his victims. Only when I put their words, their voices, to parchement are they cut loose, freed... Only then is my mind... quieted... at peace. I would go mad if I didn't write down the voices.
Edward de Vere, Anonymous (2011)

All art is political [...] otherwise it would just be decoration. And all artists have something to say or else they'd make shoes.
Edward de Vere, Anonymous (2011)

[...] this was one of the most pleasurable writing experiences that I've had, for some odd reason. That pressure never actually came into play, and I found I was able to very naturally sync into this world—to play in it and feel it out. It felt fun. Writing never feels fun. It was very unusual. This was not the typical self-doubt and torture. This was a bizarrely pleasurable writing experience.
Rian Johnson, about writing The Last Jedi (2018)

I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying 'This is fiction.' I mean, walking on water? It takes... an act of faith. And I have faith in this movie, not that it's true but that it's a jolly good story.
Ian McKellen about The Da Vinci Code.

Are you paying attention? Good. If you are not listening carefully, you will miss things. Important things. I will not pause, I will not repeat myself, and you will not interrupt. You think because you're sitting where you are, and I am sitting where I am, that you are in control of what is about to happen. You're mistaken. I am in control, because I know things that you do not know. What i will need from you now is a commitment. You will listen closely, and you will not judge me until I am finished. If you cannot commit to this, then please leave the room. But if you choose to stay, remember you chose to be here. What happens from this moment forward is not my responsibility. It's yours. Pay attention.
Alan Turing, The Imitation Game (2014)

If it helps, remember: this is what makes you a writer. Yes, this. The sick feeling in your stomach, the weariness you feel, the utter conviction that you are the Worst and your novel is the Worst and everything is awful. This is how writers feel sometime. (This is how everyone feels sometimes). But writers do not let this feeling overwhelm them.
N.K. Jemisin, 2015 NaNoWriMo Pep Talk

If you can read this message, you are blessed because over two billion people in the world cannot read at all:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas toghuht slpeling was ipmorantt! tahts so cool!

If you could read that put it in your profile.

How to Tell if You're a Writer

-If you talk to yourself.
-If you talk to yourself about talking to yourself (i.e. "I wonder why I talk to myself so much?")
-If, when you talk to yourself, you sometimes speak as if talking to another person (i.e. "Okay, so have you ever noticed that the word ‘deliver’ could mean removing someone’s liver?’")
-If, after uttering a profound piece of wisdom like that above, you stare at the cookie in your hand in awe and say, "Wow, this is good stuff for sugar highs!"
-If you live off of sugar and caffeine.
-If people start to notice that you tend to check your e-mail every day for a week, then suddenly disappear off the face of the planet.
-If your e-mails tend to be pages long and incredibly random.
-If, when replying to someone else’s e-mail, you are sometimes so random that you fail to address the original message altogether.
-If you tend to collect the Bic Stics people leave lying around, kind of like picking pennies off the ground.
-If, no matter where you are in your room, you never have to so much as get up to reach a pen/pencil and paper.
-If people think you might have A.D.D.
-If you start constantly talking in third person, past tense.
-If you think about making lists like this, and start giggling for no "apparent" reason.

-If your friends don’t even bother to look funny at you anymore when you start giggling for no apparent reason.