The writer can choose what he writes about but he cannot choose what he is able to make live.

You ought to be able to discover something from your stories. If you don't, probably nobody else will.

Harcourt sent my book to Evelyn Waugh and his comment was: “If this is really the unaided work of a young lady, it is a remarkable product.” My mother was vastly insulted. She put the emphasis on if and lady. Does he suppose you’re not a lady? she says.

Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn't try to write fiction. It's not a grand enough job for you.

I am interested in making up a good case for distortion, as I am coming to believe it is the only way to make people see.

the writer is initially set going by literature more than by life.

It is hard to make your adversaries real people unless you recognize yourself in them - in which case, if you don't watch out, they cease to be adversaries.