My verses, I cannot say poems. . . . I was following in the exquisite footsteps of Miss Millay, unhappily in my own horrible sneakers.

Never throw mud: you can miss the target, but your hands will remain dirty.

[On Dashiell Hammett:] ... he is so hard-boiled you could roll him on the White House lawn.

I like best to have one book in my hand, and a stack of others on the floor beside me, so as to know the supply of poppy and mandragora will not run out before the small hours.

Trapped like a trap in a trap

If you wear a short enough skirt, the party will come to you.

I'm never going to accomplish anything; that's perfectly clear to me. I'm never going to be famous. My name will never be writ large on the roster of Those Who Do Things. I don't do anything. Not one single thing. I used to bite my nails, but I don't even do that any more.