The two worst sins of bad taste in fiction are pornography and sentimentality. One is too much sex and the other too much sentiment.

It seems that the fiction writer has a revolting attachment to the poor, for even when he writes about the rich, he is more concerned with what they lack than with what they have.

One old lady who wants her head lifted wouldn't be so bad, but you multiply her two hundred and fifty thousand times and what you get is a book club.

The reviewer always has hold of the wrong horror.

If you're a Catholic you believe what the Church teaches and the climate makes no difference.

All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless and brutal.

So many people can now write competent stories that the short story is in danger of dying of competence.