But in the night he woke and held her tight as though she were all of life and it was being taken from him. He held her feeling she was all of life there was and it was true.

Real seriousness in regard to writing being one of the two absolute necessities. The other, unfortunately, is talent.

The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.

All good books have one thing in common - they are truer than if they had really happened.

Enjoying living was learning to get your money's worth and knowing when you had it.

I spend a hell of a lot of time killing animals and fish so I wouldn't kill myself. When a man is in rebellion against death, as I am in rebellion against death, he gets pleasure out of taking to himself one of the godlike attributes; that of giving it.

I write description in longhand because that's hardest for me and you're closer to the paper when you work by hand, but I use the typewriter for dialogue because people speak like a typewriter works.