What people are ashamed of usually makes a good story.

Sometimes it is harder to deprive oneself of a pain than of a pleasure.

I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie.

Now the standard cure for one who is sunk is to consider those in actual destitution or physical suffering

A writer like me must have an utter confidence, an utter faith in his star. It's an almost mystical feeling, a feeling of nothing-can-happen-to me, nothing-can-touch-me.... I once had it. But through a series of blows, many of them my own fault, something happened to that sense of immunity and I lost my grip.

When the first-rate author wants an exquisite heroine or a lovely morning, he finds that all the superlatives have been worn shoddy by his inferiors. It should be a rule that bad writers must start with plain heroines and ordinary mornings, and, if they are able, work up to something better.

Intelligence is a mere instrument of circumstances.