10 Inspirational Writing Quotes for High School Students

These inspirational writing quotes will help energize the young writers in your classroom, and get them excited to write!

Writing Quotes for High School Students

There are many ways to inspire young writers, from providing them with a diverse classroom library to letting them collaborate with their peers in a writer’s workshop. It’s also vital to let them learn from the best by introducing them to quotes about writing from the experts.

So without further ado, I hope you enjoy my favorite inspirational writing quotes 🙂

“Imagination is like a muscle. I found out that the more I wrote, the bigger it got.” —Philip José Farmer

So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say.” 

-Virginia Woolf

“Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it’s work. … Belief and reader absorption come in the details: An overturned tricycle in the gutter of an abandoned neighborhood can stand for everything.” —Stephen King

“To write something you have to risk making a fool of yourself” 

-Anne Rice

“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.” — Brandon Sanderson

 “As for ‘Write what you know,’ I was regularly told this as a beginner. I think it’s a very good rule and have always obeyed it. I write about imaginary countries, alien societies on other planets, dragons, wizards, the Napa Valley in 22002. I know these things. I know them better than anybody else possibly could, so it’s my duty to testify about them.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver

“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.”

—Neil Gaiman

“It didn’t occur to me that my books would be widely read at all, and that enabled me to write anything I wanted to. And even once I realized that they were being read, I still wrote as if I were writing in secret. That’s how one has to write anyway — in secret.” – Louise Erdrich

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”

-Richard Bach

Looking for something more substantial than writing quotes? Check out these other posts and resources for more ways to inspire young writers:

You’re sure to find some inspirational writing quotes in these TEDTalks from authors, language experts, filmmakers, and other creative types.

Students will especially love hearing from beloved YA authors like Gabby Rivera and Jaqueline Woodson

I was lucky enough to interview YA author, Cat Hellisen (Beastkeeper, When the Sea is Rising Red, House of Sand and Secrets, and many more!), and she shares her thoughts on first drafts, “chaining yourself to the typewriter,” and the kinds of books she likes to read for fun.

What better way to hear inspirational writing quotes for high school students than from the author themselves! In this blog post, I outline how to host an author chat in your own classroom! My students were able to chat with Betsy Cornwell and Suzanne Young, and it was definitely an unforgettable experience for me and them both.

More author interviews:

On The YA Cafe, we often had guest authors on to talk about the book of the week and share about their recent projects:

Episode #63 featuring L. Samantha Smith

Episode #61 featuring H.D. Hunter

Episode #59 featuring Maura Milan

Episode #57 featuring Justina Chen

Episode #56 featuring Jessica Spotswood

Episode #53 featuring Natasha Deen

Episode #48 featuring Amanda K. Morgan

Episode #46 featuring Somaiya Daud

Episode #45 featuring Erin Callahan

Episode #40 featuring Betsy Cornwell

Episode #27 featuring Emily Skrutskie

Episode #26 featuring Lamar Giles

Episode #23 featuring Erin Callahan

Listen to all the episodes for free on RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts!

I hope you enjoyed these inspirational writing quotes for high school students, and that you are them with your students!

Let me know which writing quotes really resonated with the young writers in your life, and share your favorite quotes about writing below in the comments!

Happy teaching!