My training was never to drink after dinner nor before I wrote nor while I was writing.

In order to be a great writer a person must have a built-in, shockproof crap detector.

There is a mystery in all great writing and that mystery does not dissect out. It continues and is always valid.

Out of all the things you could not have there were some things that you could have and one of those was to know when you were happy and to enjoy all of it while it was there and it was good.

This is a good place," he said. "There's a lot of liquor," I agreed.

The house was built on the highest part of the narrow tongue of land between the harbor and the open sea. It had lasted through three hurricanes and it was built solid as a ship.

It is one thing to be in the proximity of death, to know more or less what she is, and it is quite another thing to seek her.