No one could have fathomed what a life he'd led, for it was chiefly a life lived in his mind.

The powerful wind swept his hair away from his face; he leaned his chest into the wind, as if he stood on the deck of a ship heading into the wind, slicing through the waves of an ocean he’d not yet seen.

The object of war is to survive it.

Good habits are worth being fanatical about.

Just because you're sober, don't think you're a good driver, Cookie.

You don't want to dwell on your enemies, you know. I basically feel so superior to my critics for the simple reason that they haven't done what I do. Most book reviewers haven't written 11 novels. Many of them haven't written one.

The unspoken factor is love. The reason I can work so hard at my writing is that it's not work for me.