Writing is not hard work, it is simply an obsession.

The short story ... is the most democratic of all the arts; anyone may tell a story, and if it is an absorbing one someone will listen.

One remembers different persons differently, some by the impact they have made on our emotions, and others by the impression they leave in our minds.

It is in writing of the emotions that style becomes most individual, in moments of passion, betrayal, of life and death.

A mere chronicle of observed events will produce only journalism; combined with a sensitive memory, it can produce art.

Writing is not hard work, it is simply an obsession.