There are a lot of great quotes out there from business editors, journalists, and thought leaders. We’ve compiled some of our favorites to help entrepreneurs stay motivated and inspired. Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for years, these quotes will help you stay focused on your goals and keep moving forward.

1. Each time I write, I reaffirm my soul. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

2. Designers and free lance artists and editors can set their hourly rates by dividing their annual income needs by 1000. — Mike Rider

3. Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial ‘we.’ — Mark Twain

4. Tradition in the nursery has acted as a severe editor. — Walter Jerrold

5. Believe it or not, I don’t collaborate with women, though my agent and editor are both females. For the most part, they do little editing on my characters. — Nicholas Sparks

6. … when editors were flattered, they would sometimes give in on some of their mad ideas. — Stephen King, Misery

7. When I reach for my pen, nothing is out of reach. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

8. Every book I’ve read appears in my writing. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

9. I think we need editorial oversight now more than ever. Anything we can do to help newspapers find new ways of expression that will help them get paid, I am all for. — Steve Jobs

10. How often we recall with regret that Napoleon once shot at a magazine editor and missed him and killed a publisher. But we remember with charity that his intentions were good. — Mark Twain

11. Democracy becomes a government of bullies tempered by editors. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

12. …you are a writer the moment you start writing, not when you’ve sold your first book. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

13. Writing heals my heart like no pill ever could. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

14. Editors are licensed to be curious. — William Zinsser

15. Never demean yourself by talking back to a critic, never. Write those letters to the editor in your head, but don’t put them on paper. — Truman Capote

16. I tend to overwrite; I need a good editor. — Wolf Blitzer

17. Thanks to Karen Connelly who read earlier versions of this manuscript and to Ronald Hatch my editor and publisher. — Nancy Holmes, Mandorla

18. The essays in The Great Taos Bank Robbery were my project to win a Master of Arts degree in English when I quit being a newspaper editor and went back to college. — Tony Hillerman

19. Never demean yourself by talking back to a critic, never. Write those letters to the editor in your head, but don’t put them on paper. — Truman Capote

20. My ideas are a shapeless mass that my writing molds into beauty. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

21. Each time I write, I reaffirm my soul. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

22. If the nineteenth century was the age of the editorial chair, ours is the century of the psychiatrist’s couch. — Marshall McLuhan

23. ..here’s the editor’s prescription, writer: 1000 words daily until next checkup. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

24. Every film is a puzzle really, from an editorial point of view. — Walter Murch

25. The conscious mind is the editor, and the subconscious mind is the writer. — Steve Martin

26. In Austria an editor who can write well is valuable, but he is not likely to remain so unless he can handle a sabre with charm. — Mark Twain

27. I can only assume that your editorial writer tripped over the First Amendment and thought it was the office cat. — E. B. White

28. Editors have grown timid… a brave advance is almost inevitably followed by quick back–tracking, generally by dilution and debasement of the original intention. — Muriel Rukeyser

29. I was the editor of the school newspaper and in drama club and choir, so I was not a popular girl in the traditional sense, but I think I was known for being relatively scathing. — Tina Fey

30. Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial ‘we.’ — Mark Twain

31. I tend to overwrite; I need a good editor. — Wolf Blitzer

32. I tend to overwrite; I need a good editor. — Wolf Blitzer

33. Your world is your story with tragedies and triumphs — never forget that you are the editor too.

34. Let’s not pretend there isn’t a huge industry driven by the choices made by editors and writers who decide what a story is. — Tom Hanks

35. …you are a writer the moment you start writing, not when you’ve sold your first book. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

36. How often we recall with regret that Napoleon once shot at a magazine editor and missed him and killed a publisher. But we remember with charity that his intentions were good. — Mark Twain

37. When finally I mustered the courage to tell a novelist friend that I was talking to editors about a biography, her reply was, ‘Oh, that’s okay. That’s not a real book.’ — Stacy Schiff

38. Editors are licensed to be curious. — William Zinsser

39. Each time I write, I reaffirm my soul. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

40. ..here’s the editor’s prescription, writer: 1000 words daily until next checkup. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

41. I think every writer should have tattooed backwards on his forehead, like ambulance on ambulances, the words ‘everybody needs an editor. — Michael Crichton

42. The only people who should use the possessive ‘we’ are kings, newspaper editors, and persons with tapeworms. — Mark Twain

43. Replace your old books with the book you’ve always wanted to write. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

44. …you are a writer the moment you start writing, not when you’ve sold your first book. — Rob Bignell, Editor, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

45. Democracy becomes a government of bullies tempered by editors. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

46. Tradition in the nursery has acted as a severe editor. — Walter Jerrold

47. Far more thought and care go into the composition of any prominent ad in a newspaper or magazine than go into the writing of their features and editorials. — Marshall Mcluhan

48. One ad is worth more to a paper than forty editorials. — Will Rogers

49. I hate editors, for they make me abandon a lot of perfectly good English words. — Mark Twain

50. ‘i don’t like a kind of workshop that is about editing––I don’t want to sit there and be an editor. I don’t want to tell someone how to ”fix” a poem.’ — Natasha Trethewey

Editor’s have an unappreciated and important job, and there have been many words of wisdom spoken about their profession. We hope that these quotes have given you a better appreciation for editors and the important work they do to make sure that all of our written work is top-notch. Whether you are an editor, a writer or a reader, these quotes can remind you of the importance of the editing process.