Beware of a man with manners.

The mystery in how little we know of other people is no greater than the mystery of how much, Laurel thought.

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

How can you go out on a limb if you do not know your own tree? No art ever came out of not risking your neck. And risk--experiment--is a considerable part of the joy of doing.

Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them.

My mother read secondarily for information; she sank as a hedonist into novels. She read Dickens in the spirit in which she would have eloped with him.

Writers and travelers are mesmerized alike by knowing of their destinations.