Don't put anything into a story that does not reveal character or advance the action.

You develop a style from writing a lot.

It seems to me divorce is so common now. It ought to be more institutionalized. It's like a head-on collision every time. It's supposed to be a surprise but it's commonplace.

And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.

I'm not a drug salesman. I'm a writer." "What makes you think a writer isn't a drug salesman?

All the great story lines are great practical jokes that people fall for over and over again.

Mere opinions, in fact, were as likely to govern people's actions as hard evidence, and were subject to sudden reversals as hard evidence could never be.