"But I work harder now because I have so much more exposure. And actually the harder you work as a writer, the better you get at it. It's like anything else. It's a muscle you have to exercise. I write more now than ever"
About this Quote
What makes the quote work is how it smuggles discipline into plainspoken bar talk. “It’s a muscle” is a deliberately unromantic metaphor: comedy isn’t lightning; it’s reps. White frames writing not as inspiration but as maintenance, the same logic as staying sharp onstage. The intent is partly self-defense (don’t mistake my success for coasting) and partly a quiet rebuke to anyone who treats creative labor like a personality trait rather than a practice.
There’s also a comedian’s pragmatic cynicism in the phrase “actually.” It signals a correction to a popular fantasy: that once you “make it,” the work turns into autopilot. Instead, he implies, the ceiling rises with you. More exposure widens the blast radius of a bad joke and raises the cost of repeating yourself. Writing “more now than ever” reads like a survival strategy, not ambition: in comedy, relevance isn’t granted, it’s renewed nightly.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
White, Ron. (2026, January 18). But I work harder now because I have so much more exposure. And actually the harder you work as a writer, the better you get at it. It's like anything else. It's a muscle you have to exercise. I write more now than ever. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-i-work-harder-now-because-i-have-so-much-more-16364/
Chicago Style
White, Ron. "But I work harder now because I have so much more exposure. And actually the harder you work as a writer, the better you get at it. It's like anything else. It's a muscle you have to exercise. I write more now than ever." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-i-work-harder-now-because-i-have-so-much-more-16364/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"But I work harder now because I have so much more exposure. And actually the harder you work as a writer, the better you get at it. It's like anything else. It's a muscle you have to exercise. I write more now than ever." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-i-work-harder-now-because-i-have-so-much-more-16364/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.





