The Catholic writer, in so far as he has the mind of the Church, will feel life from the standpoint of the central Christian mystery; that it has, for all its horror, been found by God to be worth dying for.

Purity strikes me as the most mysterious of the virtues and the more I think about it the less I know about it.

Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be asked to deepen.

Conviction without experience makes for harshness.

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.

He loved her because it was his nature to do so, but there were times when he could not endure her love for him. There were times when it became nothing but pure idiot mystery.