The alcohol had the code and mystery about it as a writer's drug, but I'm glad that's been debunked. But the trouble with the drinking, much as I hate to admit it, is it helped the work.

I lost my second marriage because of drinking, and I loved the woman very much. But I thought I needed booze to write. I'm glad I was disabused.

My best stories come out of nowhere, with no concern for form at all.

My stories do have plot. They're not just scattered language; they're controlled, toward an end.

What a bog and labyrinth the human essence is... We are all overbrained and overemotioned.

I'll tell you why I like writing: it's just jumping into a pool. I get myself into a kind of trance. I engage the world, but it's also wonderful to just escape. I try to find the purities out of the confusion. It's pretty old-fashioned, but it's fun.

If you are able to explain suffering, a man once told him, you weren't really there.