Perhaps the inevitable tragedy of our complex civilization is that we must be specialists in our fields - and our fields have become increasingly difficult, so that communication is nearly impossible.

One of the qualities of writing that is not much stressed is its problem-solving aspect, having to do with the presentation of material: how to structure it, what sort of sentences (direct, elliptical, simple or compound, syntactically elaborate), what tone (in art, "tone" is everything), pacing. Paragraphing is a way of dramatization, as the look of a poem on a page is dramatic; where to break lines, where to end sentences.

Writing is a consequence of having been 'haunted' by material. Why this is, no one knows.

Getting the first draft finished is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor.

A writer’s life is in his work, and that is the place to find him.

By the way of connecting with subject, with theme, I was able to find a kind of lifeline. Writing's like a lifeline. You have to get the right way in. Otherwise the material just lies there, and you can't do anything with it.

It is only through disruptions and confusion that we grow, jarred out of ourselves by the collision of someone else's private world with our own.