Good and evil appear to be joined in every culture at the spine.

The Church's stand on birth control is the most absolutely spiritual of all her stands and with all of us being materialists at heart, there is little wonder that it causes unease. I wish various fathers would quit trying to defend it by saying that the world can support 40 billion. 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.

The only way, I think, to learn to write short stories is to write them, and then try to discover what you have done.

Elizabeth Hardwick told me once that all her first drafts sounded as if a chicken had written them. So do mine for the most part.

Sickness is a place, ... and it's always a place where there's no company, where nobody can follow.

You will have found Christ when you are concerned with other people’s sufferings and not your own.

The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience.