I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.

Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page a day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.

[He] fell right into the oldest conviction in the world-- that the girl you are in love with can't possibly be anything but true and honest.

Father and son are natural enemies and each is happier and more secure in keeping it that way.

He is so stupid you can't trust him with an idea.

In literary criticism the critic has no choice but to make over the victim of his attention into something the size and shape of himself.

Death was a friend, and sleep was Death's brother.