Technique in the minds of many is something rigid, something like a formula that you impose on the material; but in the best stories it is something organic, something that grows out of the material, and this being the case, it is different for every story of any account that has ever been written.

Even a child with normal feet was in love with the world after he had got a new pair of shoes.

There is no excuse for anyone to write fiction for public consumption unless he has been called to do so by the presence of a gift. It is the nature of fiction not to be good for much unless it is good in itself.

A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is.

The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention.

I never understand how writers can succumb to vanity - what you work the hardest on is usually the worst.

Success means being heard and don't stand there and tell me that you are indifferent to being heard. You may write for the joy of it, but the act of writing is not complete in itself. It has to end in its audience.