Denis Johnson’s trove of quotes for writers

In addition to being a masterful writer of short stories and novels, Denis Johnson was a collector of quotes from other writers, musicians, and artists. Thanks to Twitter/X and writer Karan Mahajan (@kmahan), I recently discovered, via a three-year-old tweet, a 69-page compilation of these quotes.

Some years ago, I was lucky to take a class with Denis Johnson, who dressed like a card-shark, in flashy jackets and (unlike a card-shark) wept over sentences. He gave my class a 69-page list of writing quotes he returned to frequently. Posting it here: https://t.co/Q5WOHKSBSM

— Karan Mahajan (@kmahaj) February 17, 2021

The document is a trove of ideas, observations, advice, and encouragement from a wide array of sources — from Chekhov to Kerouac, from Albert Einstein to Flannery O’Connor, from playwrights to bathroom-stall poets.

If you need some nuggets of inspiration from those who have gone before us, why not download the document for your own purposes?

Image: screenshot from a page of Denis Johnson’s list of writing quotes.