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

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

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

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?'

Unlike lions and dogs, we are a dissenting animal. We need to dissent in the same way that we need to travel, to make money, to keep a record of our time on earth and in dream, and to leave a permanent mark. Dissension is a drive, like those drives.

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

It is very difficult to teach navigation theory to someone who clings to the shore.