one learns best, and writes best, in a state of defiance.

Poetry, I thought then, and still do, is a matter of space on the page interrupted by a few well-chosen words, to give them importance. Prose is a less grand affair which has to stretch to the edges of the page to be convincing.

People hear what they want and expect to hear, not what is said.

My experience of men in cars has always been that if you don't want them to do something, they will. It is when they are behind a wheel that they most fear the control of women and children.

Only one thing registers on the subconscious mind: repetitive application - practice. What you practice is what you manifest.

To the happy all things come: happiness can even bring the dead back to life. It is our resentments, our dreariness, our hate and envy, unrecognized by us, which keeps us miserable. Yet these things are in our heads, not out of our hands; we own them. We can throw them out if we choose.

I know that I'm a real writer because sometimes I write a story just because I want to; not because someone's told me to.