Three hours of writing require twenty hours of preparation. Luckily I have learned to dream about the work, which saves me some working time.

If there is a magic in story writing, and I am convinced there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe that can be passed from one person to another.

Guy don't need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me sometimes it jus' works the other way around. Take a real smart guy and he ain't hardly ever a nice fella.

There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do.

Yes, you should talk," he said. "Sometimes a sad man can talk the sadness right out through his mouth. Sometimes a killin' man can talk the murder right out of his mouth.

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

One must withdraw for a time from life in order to set down that picture.