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What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.

— Elmore Leonard

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More quotes by Elmore Leonard

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

I leave out the parts that people skip.

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.

My grandson, Max, who is an all state lacrosse player, once gave me some lacrosse advice: A limp pass is like a limp dick; it doesn't get the job done. I think the same can be said about limp writing.

Elmore's Ten Rules of Writing (2007)

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.

Out of Sight (1996)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Elmore Leonard (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.