I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.

Mice: What is the best early training for a writer? Y.C.: An unhappy childhood.

And you treat me wonderfully and keep all your promises.

Bigotry is an odd thing. To be bigoted you have to be absolutely sure you are right and nothing makes that surety and righteousness like continence. Continence is the foe of heresy.

I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, "Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.

Until you're grown-up they send you to reform school. After you're grown-up they send you to the penitentiary.

Rush, that most exciting perversion of life, the necessity of accomplishing something in less time than should be truly allowed for its doing.