Modern life ... is often a mechanical oppression and liquor is the only mechanical relief.

A writer is like a gypsy. He owes no allegiance to any government. If he is a good writer he will never like any government he lives under. His hand should be against it and its hand will always be against him.

Those who say they want to be writers, and aren’t writing, don’t.

I wish I had died before I ever loved anyone but her.

The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert.

Don't you drink? I notice you speak slightingly of the bottle. I have drunk since I was fifteen and few things have given me more pleasure.

Before we take to the sea, we walk on land. . . Before we create, we must understand. . .