I'd rather be in trouble for having done something than for not having done anything.

The fools ran after me and I ran after the whores, foolish though I realized such a proceeding to be.

I have heard of novels started in the middle, at the end, written in patches to be joined together later, but I have never felt the slightest desire to do this.

I formed a resolution to never write a word I did not want to write; to think only of my own tastes and ideals, without a thought of those of editors or publishers.

When I die there may be a paragraph or two in the newspapers. My name will linger in the British Museum Reading Room catalogue for a space at the head of a long list of books for which no one will ever ask.

I must be like the princess who felt the pea through seven mattresses; each book is a pea.

Novel writing is far and away the most exhausting work I know.