That every day should be a fiesta seemed to me a wonderful discovery.

What difference does it make if you live in a picturesque little outhouse surrounded by 300 feeble minded goats and your faithful dog? The question is: Can you write?

They can't yank a novelist like they can a pitcher. A novelist has to go the full nine, even if it kills him.

People who write fiction, if they had not taken it up, might have become very successful liars.

The time to work is shorter all the time and if you waste it you ... have committed a sin for which there is no forgiveness.

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

It could be worse,' Passini said respectfully. "There is nothing worse than war." Defeat is worse." I do not believe it," Passini said still respectfully. "What is defeat? You go home.