I can write best in the silence and solitude of the night, when everyone has retired.

Meaning of the quote

The quote means that Zane Grey, an American author, felt he could write his best work when it was quiet and he was alone at night, after everyone else had gone to bed. He found that the silence and being by himself allowed him to focus and be more creative with his writing.

About Zane Grey

Zane Grey was an American author and dentist known for his popular Western adventure novels and stories. His best-selling book was “Riders of the Purple Sage,” and his works have been adapted for films and television, including 112 films, two TV episodes, and a TV series.

More about the author

More quotes from Zane Grey

The Indian story has never been written. Maybe I am the man to do it.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

What makes life worth living? Better surely, to yield to the stain of suicide blood in me and seek forgetfulness in the embrace of cold dark death.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

Men may rise on stepping stones of their dead selves to higher things.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I confess that reading proofs is a pleasure. It stimulates and inspires me.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I did not have one bad spell during writing – an unprecedented record.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

Love grows more tremendously full, swift, poignant, as the years multiply.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

Love of man for woman – love of woman for man. That’s the nature, the meaning, the best of life itself.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

Writing was like digging coal. I sweat blood. The spell is on me.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I will see this game of life out to its bitter end.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I hate birthdays.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

What is writing but an expression of my own life?

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I need this wild life, this freedom.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

It was a decent New Year’s, but it took a million officers to make it so.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

No one connected intimately with a writer has any appreciation of his temperament, except to think him overdoing everything.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I can write best in the silence and solitude of the night, when everyone has retired.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I love my work but do not know how I write it.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I am full of fire and passion. I am not ready yet for great concentration and passion.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

Today I began the novel that I determined to be great.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I see so much more than I used to see. The effect has been to depress and sadden and hurt me terribly.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

These critics who crucify me do not guess the littlest part of my sincerity. They must be burned in a blaze. I cannot learn from them.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I must go deeper and even stronger into my treasure mine and stint nothing of time, toil, or torture.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I wrote for nearly six hours. When I stopped, the dark mood, as if by magic, had folded its cloak and gone away.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I am tired. My arm aches. My head boils. My feet are cold. But I am not aware of any weakness.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

There are hours when I must force the novel out of my mind and be interested in the children.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

Work is my salvation. It changes my moods.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

Every once in a while I feel the tremendous force of the novel. But it does not stay with me.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

This motion-picture muddle had distracted me from my writing.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

I arise full of eagerness and energy, knowing well what achievement lies ahead of me.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)

The difficulty, the ordeal, is to start.

Zane Grey

American novelist (1872-1939)