It's a town you come to for a short time.

Eschew the monumental. Shun the Epic. All the guys who can paint great big pictures can paint great small ones.

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.

You make something from things that have happened and from things that exist and from all things that you know and all those you cannot know, and you make something through your invention that is truer than anything true and alive, and if you make it well enough, you give it immortality.

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?

You’ll ache. And you’re going to love it. It will crush you. And you’re still going to love all of it.

My father was a deeply sentimental man. And like all sentimental men, he was also very cruel.