The romantic idea is that everybody around a writer must suffer for his talent. I think a writer is a citizen of humanity, part of his nation, part of his family. He may have to make some compromises.

You must avoid giving hostages to fortune, like getting an expensive wife, an expensive house, and a style of living that never lets you aford the time to take the chance to write what you wish.

I am forced to say that I have many fiercer critics than myself.

Critics in New York are made by their dislikes, not by their enthusiasms.

Isaac Singer was born in Poland and doesn't write in English. Still, he's an American.

When I started out in the early 1930s, there were a great many magazines that published short stories. Unfortunately, the short-story market has dwindled to almost nothing.

A good editor understands what you're talking and writing about and doesn't meddle too much.