There was never a good biography of a good novelist. There couldn't be. He is too many people if he's any good.

The unwelcome November rain had perversely stolen the day's last hour and pawned it with that ancient fence, the night.

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.

Often a man can play the helpless child in front of a woman, but he can almost never bring it off when he feels most like a helpless child.

A new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken...

I like France, where everybody thinks he's Napoleon--down here everybody thinks he's Christ.

There are no second acts in American lives.