Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish.

There is comfort in routine.

And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.

Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.

I wish to God I knew as much about writing as I did when I was 19. I was absolutely certain about most things then. Also, I suspect, more accurate.

He drank too much when he could get it, ate too much when it was there, talked too much all the time.

I know this... a man got to do what he got to do.