At fourteen you don't need sickness or death for tragedy.

A rattlesnake that doesn't bite teaches you nothing.

Being consistent meant not departing from convictions already formulated; being a leader meant making other persons accept these convictions. It was a narrow track, and a one-way, but a person might travel a considerable distance on it. A number of dictators have.

Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely necessary.

Somehow I have the feeling that in some book is the great treasure I've been looking for all my life.

We can love an honest rogue, but what is more offensive than a false saint?

Writing is so difficult that I feel that writers, having had their hell on earth, will escape all punishment hereafter.