Passion is our ground, our island - do others exist?

The first thing we see about a short story is its mystery. And in the best short stories, we return at the last to see mystery again

I was always my own teacher.

We are the breakers of our own hearts

One place comprehended can make us understand other places better.

The writing of a novel is taking life as it already exists, not to report it but to make an object, toward the end that the finished work might contain this life inside it and offer it to the reader. The essence will not be, of course, the same thing as the raw material; it is not even of the same family of things. The novel is something that never was before and will not be again.

The first act of insight is throw away the labels.