Real tragedy is never resolved. It goes on hopelessly for ever.

A pen on paper is the ideal way for me. I am not really very comfortable with machines; I never learned to type very well.

It has always been quite apparent to me that no important story can fail to tell us something of value to us.

Once you have really done all you can, then you can show it to people. But I find this is increasingly not the case with the younger people. They do a first draft and want somebody to finish it off for them with good advice.

People say that if you find water rising up to your ankle, that's the time to do something about it, not when it's around your neck.

The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a resonable paragraph, at any rate. There was so much else to include, and one must be firm in cutting out details. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: `The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.'

A budding writer wants to be encouraged.