A serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl.

You are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering.

Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary.

Write as well as you can and finish what you start.

Everything is your fault if you're any damn good.

The old man looked at him with his sun-burned, confident loving eyes.

We're always lucky,' I said and like a fool I did not knock on wood.