Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They'll believe anything they see in print.

Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had. And when you are reading a book, you and the author are alone together-just the two of you.

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.

In a free country it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty.

We are such docile creatures, normally, that it takes a virus to jolt us out of life's routine. A couple of days in a fever bed are, in a sense, health-giving; the change in body temperature, the change in pulse , and the change of scene have a restorative effect on the system equal to the hell they raise.

Writing is one way to go about thinking, and the practice and habit of writing not only drain the mind but supply it, too.

You can dissect a joke just as you can a frog. But it tends to die on you.