There seems to be a kind of order in the universe…in the movement of the stars and the turning of the Earth and the changing of the seasons. But human life is almost pure chaos. Everyone takes his stance, asserts his own right and feelings, mistaking the motives of others, and his own.

You do not create a style. You work, and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being.

. . . all that she had had, and all that she had missed, were lost together, and were twice lost in this landslide of remembered losses.

I always write a story in one sitting.

I was right not to be afraid of any thief but myself, who will end by leaving me nothing.

advance money is really a delusion, that is to say, I get no more until it is paid out in sales, but still, living from hand to mouth and day to day as I do, a nickel in the hand is more useful than the same nickel next year. What do I know about next year? I've never been there. I don't know any one who has.

Death always leaves one singer to mourn.