I have found, in short, from reading my own writing, that my subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory largely held by the devil.

Behind the newspaper Julian was withdrawing into the inner compartment of his mind where he spent most of his time. This was a kind of mental bubble in which he established himself when he could not bear to be a part of what was going on around him. From it he could see out and judge but in it he was safe from any kind of penetration from without. It was the only place where he felt free of the general idiocy of his fellows. His mother had never entered it but from it he could see her with absolute clarity.

... the main concern of the fiction writer is with mystery as it is incarnated in human life.

Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.

I use the grotesque the way I do because people are deaf and dumb and need help to see and hear.

We are now living in an age which doubts both fact and value. It is the life of this age that we wish to see and judge.

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.