You know you’re writing well when you're throwing good stuff into the wastebasket.

Write the best story that you can and write it as straight as you can.

He was just a coward and that was the worst luck any many could have.

When you work hard all day with your head and know you must work again the next day what else can change your ideas and make them run on a different plane like whisky?

But sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, 'Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.' So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there.

Write as well as you can and finish what you start.

I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?