Do not think about sin, he thought. There are enough problems now without sin. Also I have no understanding of it.

Fish," he said softly, aloud, "I'll stay with you until I am dead.

When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.

In the early morning on the lake sitting in the stern of the boat with his father rowing, he felt quite sure that he would never die.

My big fish must be somewhere.

People who write fiction, if they had not taken it up, might have become very successful liars.

When I had finished the book I knew that no matter what Scott did, nor how he behaved, I must know it was like a sickness and be of any help I could to him and try to be a good friend. He had many good, good friends, more than anyone I knew. But I enlisted as one more, whether I could be of any use to him or not. If he could write a book as fine as The Great Gatsby I was sure that he could write an even better one. I did not know Zelda yet, and so I did not know the terrible odds that were against him. But we were to find them out soon enough.