The principle of literature is devotion to the particulars of life.

Emily was feeling the elation of conscientious hosts when they can temporarily escape a ubiquitous houseguest.

Literature has low enough standards. But we can avoid writing the worst literature if we make ourselves ask ourselves, every two or three sentences we write, 'Is that what I really think?'

The secret of literature, which conventional people don't guess, is that writers are forever looking for the surprising revelation - not for reinforcement of collective wisdom.

The more original a short-story writer, the odder looking the assortment of things he or she puts together for a story.

For a short-story writer, a story is the combination of what the writer supposed the story would likely be about - plus what actually turned up in the course of writing.

No work of literature is the product of only one or two conscious ideas. A story is mysteriously dense of meaning.