Write what you need to write, not what is currently popular or what you think will sell.

A regime which combines perpetual surveillance with total indulgence is hardly conducive to healthy development.

The world is changed not by the self-regarding, but by men and women prepared to make fools of themselves.

In 1930s mysteries, all sorts of motives were credible which aren't credible today, especially motives of preventing guilty sexual secrets from coming out. Nowadays, people sell their guilty sexual secrets.

read widely, not in order to copy someone else's style, but to learn to appreciate and recognize good writing and to see how the best writers have achieved their result. Poor writing is, unfortunately, infectious and should be avoided.

Don't just plan to write - write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.

Metaphysical speculation is about as pointless as a discussion on the meaning of one's lungs. They're for breathing.