The beginner should approach style warily, realizing that it is himself he is approaching, no other; and he should begin by turning resolutely away from all devices that are popularly believed to indicate style - all mannerisms, tricks, adornments. The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.

In a sense the world dies every time a writer dies, because, if he is any good, he has been a wet nurse to humanity during his entire existence and has held earth close around him, like the little obstetrical toad that goes about with a cluster of eggs attached to his legs.

You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.

From three to four, he planned to stand perfectly still and think of what it was like to be alive.

Advice to young writers wo want to get ahead without any annoying delays: don't write about Man, write about a man.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.

Familiarity is the thing-the sense of belonging. It grants exemption from all evil, all shabbiness.