Art, I suppose, is only for beginners, who have made up in their minds to be content with symbols rather than with what they signify, with the elegantly composed recipe in lieu of actual dinner.

...two thirds of all sorrow is homemade and, so far as the universe is concerned, unnecessary.

Parodies and caricatures are the most penetrating of criticisms.

The lion will lay down with the lamb...but every morning they'll have to provide a new lamb. Maybe this world is another planet's hell.

To write fiction, one needs a whole series of inspirations about people in an actual environment, and then a whole lot of work on the basis of those inspirations.

After all, what is reading but a vice, like drink or venery or any other form of excessive self-indulgence? One reads to tickle and amuse one's mind; one reads, above all, to prevent oneself thinking.

Isn't it remarkable how everyone who knew [D.H.] Lawrence has felt compelled to write about him? Why, he's had more books written about him than any writer since Byron!