Hesitation increases in relation to risk in equal proportion to age.

As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.

Details make stories human, and the more human a story can be, the better.

No animal has more liberty than the cat, but it buries the mess it makes. The cat is the best anarchist.

Until you're grown-up they send you to reform school. After you're grown-up they send you to the penitentiary.

As long as you can start, you are all right. The juice will come.

There is a mystery in all great writing and that mystery does not dissect out. It continues and is always valid.