Elias Canetti Quotes

In many ways, I've been writing personal stories all my life.

I like to tell my own story using my personality and my insight, the way I see things.

The truth is, for however much my stories come out of things that have happened to me, they're not darkly or as deeply personal as someone like Marc Maron or a lot of comedians, but they are essentially my life and my interpretation of it.

If you're going to write about your life, you must write about your life.

I want young readers to know that to tell their own story is the most important thing they'll ever do.

I think no one but me has the right to write about my life as I want to write it in a particular way. I don't think any other person will be able to tell the story of my life like how I have approached it. It works best when it's written by someone who has experienced it herself.

I think anything that anyone writes that's any good is going to have a lot of autobiography.

I'm not gonna do the same, tired, standard 'I was born in a log cabin...' kind of book. There's so much more I want to do.

Well, in fact everybody - everybody - in the entire nation has enough stuff in their life to write about that's interesting that they could write their autobiography. And in the end that's why I find people interesting.

I always write from a personal place - whether it be about my friends or myself or a story that I heard.

For me, 'risky' is revealing what really happened in my life through music. Risky is writing confessional songs and telling the true story about a person with enough details so everyone knows who that person is.

Write the story you need to tell and want to read. It's impossible to know what others want, so don't waste time trying to guess.

We've always written from personal experiences.

Covers are always so fun to do, but there's nothing like telling your own story.

There's always an element of truth to what I write because that's why I write.

I want to write from my own experience.

When you write an autobiography, it has to be authentic.

You can only write your own vision.

Everybody - every single person - has a story. Find yours and tell it in your voice.

I'm a songwriter, and people will tell you the greatest stories about their lives, whether you want to hear it or not.

The question isn't, 'What do we want to know about people?', It's, 'What do people want to tell about themselves?'

When I lead essay workshops, I ask students to come up with at least five topics, which they'll narrow down to one. The winning idea should be the story the student is most excited to tell because it honestly reflects his or her best self.

I didn't write the book to sell the book, but to tell my experiences.

In my new book, 'Binge,' I share essays about everything I've never told my viewers - touching on the best and worst days of my life, some hilarious, some embarrassing, but all extremely personal.

I'm not really an autobiographical writer, though I use lots of stuff from my life to make my stories seem real. But when I actually write about myself, I get very confused.