The great writers just kept bringing them out. They didn't care if they repeated themselves.

I imagine that my characters have become much more complicated than when I first began, which would be normal

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

An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.

My favorite short-story writer is John Cheever

There are too many books I haven’t read, too many places I haven’t seen, too many memories I haven’t kept long enough.

Ernest Hemingway did a great deal toward making the writer an acceptable public figure; obviously, he was no sissy.