Pop, I'm nothing! I'm nothing, Pop. Can't you understand that? There's no spite in it any more. I'm just what I am, that's all.

A lot of my work goes to the center of where we belong--if there is any root to life -because nowadays the family is broken up, and people don't live in the same place for very long.

If I see an ending, I can work backward.

A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man.

The best work that anybody ever writes is the work that is on the verge of embarrassing him, always.

Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money.

Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be … when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am.