Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.

When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.

A despot doesn't fear eloquent writers preaching freedom- he fears a drunken poet who may crack a joke that will take hold.

Advice from this elderly practitioner is to forget publishers and just roll a sheet of copy paper into your machine and get lost in your subject.

Write about it by day and dream about it by night.

There is simply a better chance of doing well if the writer holds a steady course, enters the stream of English quietly, and does not thrash about.

But real life is only one kind of life—there is also the life of the imagination.