No one is shallow and vulgar forever; sooner or later the whole species likes to be profound.

An essay is a work of literary art which has a minimum of one anecdote and one universal idea.

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

There isn't a thought or feeling that doesn't alter or deepen when written. We are a writing animal. That is why all of us feel we have a book inside us. It isn't an illusion. We have got a book inside us.

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

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.

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