... the novel, as a living force, if not as a work of art, owes an incalculable debt to what we call, mistakenly, the new psychology, to Freud, in his earlier interpretations, and more truly, I think, to Jung.

anger and jealousy are spasms of the nerves, not of the heart.

A farmer's got to be born, same as a fool. You can't make a corn pone out of flour dough by the twistin' of it.

Nothing is more consuming, or more illogical, than the desire for remembrance.

Most women want their youth back again; but I wouldn't have mine back at any price. The worst years of my life are behind me, and my best ones ahead.

I revolted from sentimentality, less because it was false than because it was cruel.

I suppose I am a born novelist, for the things I imagine are more vital and vivid to me than the things I remember.