Prose talent depends on having something to say and an interesting, highly developed way of saying it.

I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.

A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.

Never confuse activity with action.

sometimes i wish i'd been an englishman; american life is so damned dumb and stupid and healthy

The world, as a rule, does not live on beaches and in country clubs.

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.