I don't want you to describe to me—not ever—what you were doing to that poor boy to make him sound like that; but if you ever do it again, please cover his mouth with your hand.

but writers, Garp knew, were just observers - good and ruthless imitators of human behavior.

The gardener had a dread of small women; he'd always imagined them to have an anger disproportionate to their size.

We will often do anything to pretend that nothing is on our minds.

When I finally write the first sentence, I want to know everything that happens, so that I am not inventing the story as I write it - rather, I am remembering a story that has already happened.

I don't begin a novel until I have written, not just the last sentence, but usually, as a result thereof, many of the surrounding final paragraphs, so that in addition to knowing what happens, I know what the voice is.

Keep passing the open windows.