Pity the selfishness of lovers: it is brief, a forlorn hope; it is impossible.

What must novel dialogue . . . really be and do? It must be pointed, intentional, relevant. It must crystallize situation. It must express character. It must advance plot. During dialogue, the characters confront one another. The confrontation is in itself an occasion. Each one of these occasions, throughout the novel, is unique.

Silences have a climax, when you have got to speak.

in my experience one thing you don't learn from is anything anyone set up to be a lesson; what you are to know you pick up as you go along.

writers do not find subjects: subjects find them. There is not so much a search as a state of open susceptibility.

life is a succession of readjustments.

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