I suppose our capacity for self-delusion is boundless.

Men really need sea-monsters in their personal oceans. An ocean without its unnamed monsters would be like a completely dreamless sleep.

The last clear definite function of man — muscles aching to work, minds aching to create beyond the single need — this is man.

In writing, habit seems to be a much stronger force than either willpower or inspiration.

In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved.

If a story is not about the hearer, he will not listen. And here I make a rule—a great and interesting story is about everyone or it will not last.

Americans are much more American than they are Northerners, Southerners, Westerners, or Easterners ... California Chinese, Boston Irish, Wisconsin German, yes, Alabama Negroes, have more in common than they have apart ... The American identity is an exact and provable thing.