I'm not happy when I'm writing, but I'm more unhappy when I'm not.

we dig our graves with our teeth.

Art transcends war. Art is the language of God and war is the barking of men. Beethoven is bigger than war.

Oh - oh, why is it that the members of a family feel privileged to treat one another with a cruelty they would not exhibit to the merest stranger?

Crushed to earth and rising again is an author's gymnastic. Once he fails to struggle to his feet and grab his pen, he will contemplate a fact he should never permit himself to face: that in all probability books have been written, are being written, will be written, better than anything he has done, is doing, or will do.

The grand canyon which yawns between the writer's concept of what he wants to capture in words and what comes through is a cruel abyss.

A woman is not a whole woman without the experience of marriage. In the case of a bad marriage, you win if you lose. Of the two alternatives - bad marriage or none - I believe bad marriage would be better. It is a bitter experience and a high price to pay for fulfillment, but it is the better alternative.