The paradox of romantic love -- that what one possesses, one can no longer desire -- was at work.

Each piece of dialogue MUST be "something happening". . .The "amusing" for its OWN sake should above all be censored. . .The functional use of dialogue for the plot must be the first thing in the writer's mind. Where functional usefulness cannot be established, dialogue must be left out.

Dialogue in fiction is what characters do to one another.

Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.

People in love, in whom every sense is open, cannot beat off the influence of a place.

The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.

Where would the Irish be without someone to be Irish at?