Ambition. Fame. Sex. Envy. Gossip. Money. Death. They're all here, in this book of quotations - many of them previously unpublished - from the diaries, journals, and notebooks of the world's greatest writers. Arranged chronologically, from the fervent declarations of youth to the serene reflections of old age, The Writer's Life spans twenty-three countries and four centuries to observe the entire spectrum of the human condition, with particular attention to the joys and agonies of literary endeavor.