Only if we are secure in our beliefs can we see the comical side of the universe.

It's always wrong of course to say that you can't do this or you can't do that in fiction. You can do anything you can get away with, but nobody has ever gotten away with much.

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.

I will rejoice the day when they say: This is right whether we all rot on top of each other or not, dear children, as we certainly may. Either practice restraint or be prepared for crowding.

You can't clobber any reader while he's looking. You divert his attention, then you clobber him and he never knows what hit him.

The Southerner is usually tolerant of those weaknesses that proceed from innocence.

Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay.