I am a little man and this is a little town, but there must be a spark in little men that can burst into flame.

A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool.

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

I dislike helplessness in other people and in myself, and this is by far my greatest fear of illness.

A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ.

The trash and litter of nature disappears into the ground with the passing of each year, but man's litter has more permanence.

I think today if we forbade our illiterate children to touch the wonderful things of our literature, perhaps they might steal them and find secret joy.