The less self-conscious you are about what you are about, the better in a way, that is to say technically. You have to get it in your blood, not in the head.

I am no disbeliever in spiritual purpose and no vague believer. I see from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. This means that for me the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption by Christ and what I see in the world I see in relation to that.

... the novelist is bound by the reasonable possibilities, not the probabilities, of his culture.

I feel that whatever virtues the novel may have are very much connected with the limitations you mention. I am not writing a conventional novel, and I think that the quality of the novel I write will derive precisely from the peculiarity or aloneness, if you will, of the experience I write from.

Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better.

Not-writing is a good deal worse than writing.

Total non-retention has kept my education from being a burden to me.