writing 6
- Until you know how a story ends you cannot know how it begins, and that is why a book with material but no shape cannot be written.
- The aim of a story is to be so complete that once it has been told there is nothing left to say.
Michael Lewis
American author of Liar's Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short and The Undoing Project, and host of the podcast Against the Rules.
Michael Lewis did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
What Michael Lewis says most about
journalism 5
- An audience is not buying the subject you cover; it is buying your interest in the subject.
- You never call a source uninformed: you call knowing everything already known, and then ask for what has not been said.
taste 2
- You should only start a book you believe is going to be great, whatever it turns out to be.
- In creative work there is a real benefit to not following the financial incentives, and to creating scarcity for the sake of quality rather than for its own sake.