Self-pity is essentially humorless, devoid of that lightness of touch which gives understanding of life.

You have to be a product of the product.

People think that because a novel's invented, it isn't true. Exactly the reverse is the case. Biography and memoirs can never be wholly true, since they cannot include every conceivable circumstance of what happened. The novel can do that.

He gave me a look of great contempt; as I supposed, for venturing, even by implication, to draw a parallel between a lack of affluence that might, literally, affect my purchase of rare vintages, and a figure of speech intended delicately to convey his own dire want for the bare necessities of life. He remained silent for several seconds, as if trying to make up his mind whether he could ever bring himself to speak to me again; and then said gruffly: 'I've got to go now.'

Parents. . . are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don't fulfil the promise of their early years.

Writing is above all a question of instinct.

Books do furnish a room.