If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes.

If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.

Critics themselves, they used to tear me up.

Victor Saville was bad news because he wanted money just to do one big picture.

If the public likes you, you're good.

I'm not an author, I'm a writer, that's all I am. Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney.

If I need something, I'll invent it.