The hardest thing to do is to write straight honest prose on human beings. First you have to know the subject; then you have to know how to write. Both take a lifetime to learn, and anybody is cheating who takes politics as a way out. All the outs are too easy, and the thing itself is too hard to do.

The bicycle riders drank much wine, and were burned and browned by the sun. They did not take the race seriously except among themselves.

Don't you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you're not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you've lived nearly half the time you have to live already?

Wine is a grand thing," I said. "It makes you forget all the bad.

There are only two places in the world where we can live happy: at home and in Paris.

I kissed her hard and held her tight and tried to open her lips; they were closed tight.

A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book.